Trouble Always Finds Me
by yerachael
Summary: When Lilli moved to Sweet Amoris High, she was hoping to leave all the drama behind her. Unfortunately, it seemed that no matter how much she wanted to just keep her head down and blend into the crowd, trouble always managed to find her. It didn't help that the school's very own rebel, Castiel, was there to push her along.
1. Nagging Thoughts

**Chapter One: Nagging Thoughts**

_I can't sleep!_

Swirling thoughts were nagging at me as I tossed and turned in my new bed; although it was larger than my old one, it was nowhere near as comfortable. New bed, new room, new house, new town. _New life._ With that thought, my eyes flew open in the darkness and I just knew I wasn't going to get any sleep.

Sighing indignantly, I sat up, propped myself up against the overstuffed pillows, and turned on the bedside lamp. While most teenagers would probably bring out their mobile phones at this point, especially those who just moved towns, I opted to grab my sketchbook and a 2B pencil that were lying on the table directly under the lamp's light. Honestly, one of the best things about this new town, was the new phone and hence no old contacts.

After being popular, and by extension involved in all the drama, at my old high school, I vowed to myself that it wasn't going to happen to me again. In truth all I wanted were one or two close friends who loved me for being strong-willed and loud, rather than the whole grade following me like lost sheep and being in a permanent state of fear and awe. _And no more dating._

My perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed slightly as I thought about my previous dating experiences. Naturally, an independent girl like myself had attracted like-minded guys, but it always turned out that we weren't that similar after all. I mean just because I was opinionated and didn't like beating around the bush, it didn't mean that I didn't have a heart. Unlike all those guys who thought I was the bitch that would complement their jerkiness.

_Hm…there must be a better word than 'jerkiness', oh well I'll probably think of it the next time I meet a jerk. _Seeing as I was starting at a new high school in less than five hours, part of me felt like that next encounter wasn't far away, either.

All the while that I was swimming around in my own thoughts, my hand had been working on its own accord; dragging the pencil across a new page in my sketchbook. When I realised what I'd been doing, my amber eyes swiveled down to inspect the drawing. _More garbage. _I thought in disappointment, my lips pursing together as I breathed out a sigh. The only problem that I was having with this move was that, for some unexplainable reason, I hadn't been able to design anything decent recently.

My sketchbook was filled with drawings of models, clothing, hair designs, colour schemes and anything else to do with fashion, and all of my own creation. I'd always had a natural talent for design and it frustrated me to no end that all my inspiration seemed to have come from the drama of my old school and my old status. It was clear that I'd have to fins new inspiration, away from alcohol, jerks, spineless followers and general teenage drama and angst. _I'm never going to design something good again am I? Either that or I'm going to be the trouble magnet again...aren't I?_

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**A/N: Hi there! This was just a short chapter (basically a prologue) to start off the fanfic. Usually I aim for 1000 words per chapter, which is still pretty short but it works for keeping up regular updating and making things keep moving. Please review if you liked it...or didn't like it. Any support is amazing! ~ YeRachael**


	2. Girl In Black

**Chapter Two: Girl In Black**

I spent the rest of the night drawing random dresses and decorating them with elaborate designs of intertwining flowers, vines, leaves, and the occasional thorn, but there wasn't much passion to these pieces. As I was trying to focus on perfecting a particular style of dropped waist, I realised that I was blinking a lot because my eyes were becoming adjusted to the morning sunlight that was now streaming through the open curtains of my new bedroom. Despite myself, I couldn't help the small amount of excitement that bubbled in my chest.

_No more shoulder to cry on, or back to talk behind._ I thought with resolve as I closed my sketchbook and promptly jumped out of bed. The white shag-pile carpet was soft under my bare feet as I made my way to the bathroom that I had to share with my parents. Whoever created this house obviously wasn't thinking about it being used for a family of three because if they had, then they would have surely put in a second bathroom and maybe even separated the toilet, dammit.

I didn't take long at all to have a shower and blow dry my shoulder-length black curls and by the time I reentered my room, the clock showed that it was only 7AM. Grinning with an unusual amount of enthusiasm, I pulled my towel a little tighter around my slim body and let my amber orbs scan the packed wardrobe. Despite my mum's efforts to get me to do a massive clear out of unused clothing and things while we were moving, it definitely looked like I'd somehow acquired more than I had in the first place.

After a few minutes of testing out different outfit options, I finally settled on something I felt very confident in. With the same amount of enthusiasm, I dragged a pair of black tights over my long legs, followed by dark denim shorts, which I used to tuck in a tight black, long-sleeved turtleneck, and finished the outfit off with loose black knee-high boots. Although I had a passion for designing elaborate clothing, my own fashion choices consisted mostly of denim and black; they worked together with my naturally dark hair to make my yellow eyes stand out brilliantly against my pale skin. _And it doesn't hurt that it makes me look a little unapproachable, not that that stopped anyone from my old school. _Hopefully the students at Sweet Amoris High would be more cliché and leave the girl dressed in black, alone.

It was actually hard for me to not show any emotion when I first stepped onto the ground of my new high school an hour later. With my belly full of honey and toast and wearing my comfortable outfit, I was feeling pretty bubbly but I didn't want to stand-out here. All I wanted was to just blend in, stay out of trouble and graduate at the end of the year with as fewer threats, enemies and detentions as possible. However, I hadn't ruled out the thought of making a few close friends quite yet, because I really did love to have friends around.

After meeting with the principal and then going to the student council office to finish my registration, I was off to my first class at Sweet Amoris High. Unfortunately for me, it was mathematics. _I hate this crap. _I thought bitterly as I entered the classroom and swiftly sat down in the second back row, nearest to the window. Apparently I wasn't entirely alone in my loathing for equations because from the corner of my eye, I spotted a boy behind me who looked as if he was already catching up on some sleep; before class had even begun on the first day of the new school year.

Trying to be as stealthy as possible, remembering that I didn't want to seem approachable at all, I turned my head ever so slightly so I could get a better view of the boy behind me. It was just too amusing to ignore. My eyes narrowed a little as I took in his appearance, he was the stereotypical rebel-without-a-cause and not in the James Dean way. The guy had hair that was dyed a fantastic shade of bright red and just reached his shoulders, paired with the baggy black jeans, red band t-shirt and black leather jacket, and suddenly I couldn't even be bothered to try to hide my smirk.

That was until I realised that the person sitting next to the sleeping guy had noticed that I was being nosy. A small chuckle was the only indication I got that I'd been caught out and instantly my eyes flicked to the person who was looking at me. "Hello," said the second guy, who was dressed in elaborate Victorian clothing and smiling at me with one green and one yellow eye. Being the fashion designer that I was, the thing that struck me most about him was the way his silver hair was dyed black at the ends and hung perfectly around the shape of his sculpture-like face. _I'll have to remember that sort of contrast and shape for my drawings._

Blinking once to bring myself out of my thoughts, I nodded at the costumed guy in acknowledgement. "Hey," I replied in my somewhat brassy voice.

"I'm Lysander," he offered, although it was obvious he was doing it out of social obligation rather than actual conviction. _And that suits me fine actually. _I thought.

"Lilli," I said after a brief pause, deciding that it wouldn't devastate my cold-as-ice façade to return the formalities. Lysander nodded and my eyes quickly flicked over to his sleeping friend before I turned back around in my seat again.

Just then the door banged open and a disgruntled man bustled in, carrying a heavy leather bag that was falling apart and loaded with course booklets. If I didn't already hate mathematics, then I was got the impression that I definitely was going to after having this man as my teacher for the next year. _Oh joy._


	3. First Appearances

**Chapter Three: First Appearances**

After surviving mathematics, the rest of the day passed without anything particularly eventful happening, which I was happy about. The feeling I got from the majority of my peers, that I wasn't someone they'd want to befriend, reinforced my positive attitude. However, there was always bound to be one or two exceptions.

The first exception to the masses of Sweet Amoris High was an especially beautiful purple-haired girl named Violette. Our first meeting wasn't anything you'd see in a movie, but rather a conversation between two surprisingly solitary girls in the lunch-line. As it turned out, although Violette had attended the school since grade one, she preferred to stay out of everyone's way and focus on her academics, so that meant she was the last person you'd except to be involved in any drama. I instantly wrote her down as a possible friend.

To my surprise, the second person who obviously didn't judge people by first appearances was Lysander. For the final class of the day, I had art and with Violotte leading the way, we headed to the studio that was situated just beyond the school garden, bonding over our shared passion for the subject and flare for design. This girl was a Godsend.

When we arrived at the class, with five minutes to spare, we each took a seat at the back table and waited, somewhat eagerly, for class to start. As our fellow artists slowly trickled into the studio, my eyes seemed to automatically lock onto the heterochomia eyes of the Victorian-styled boy. A small frown crossed my face briefly when he made his way over to us at the back table, the redheaded rebel trudging along behind him.

"Nice to see you again, Lilli," Lysander said with a small nod as he took the seat directly opposite Violette, who had promptly glanced out the window. _Is she blushing? _I wondered silently, before turning my gaze away from the purple-haired girl and returning Lysander's nod in recognition. Seeing as the other guy had been asleep when his friend and I had met, it made sense that he was confused about how we knew each other.

"And you are?" The redhead asked in gruffly as he sat down next to Lysander, glaring at me from across the table. Something about his tone irked me and I instantly saw him as a troublemaker. _And therefore I don't want to make a good impression._

"Your friend just said my name," I replied curtly, letting the tiniest of smirks cross my face. Despite my desire to follow Violette's lead and look anywhere but at the two boys now opposite us, I couldn't help but stare challengingly at the rebel. _Old habits die hard._

Apparently the guy wasn't used to a girl talking to him like that, but to my chagrin it also didn't look like it failed to impress him. "Didn't realise you were so important that I was supposed to listen, Princess," he retorted, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair with an air of smug amusement.

"I'm not, Sleeping Beauty," I said back before I could stop myself. Unfortunately, this attracted Lysander's attention so now I had both boys looking at me. The small smile on the latter's face told me that he understood the reference I'd made to his friend's state in our first class of the day and the confused expression on the other's face told me that he didn't know I'd seen him sleeping.

"What?" The redhead asked with an ice-cold look, like he knew that it was an inside joke of sorts.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, finally looking away and settling my golden eyes on the table.

Although my eyes were directed downwards and my black curls had fallen forward, effectively hiding my face almost entirely, my ears were still tuned in on the conversation between the two boys at the table. "Lilli saw you asleep in mathematics this morning, Castiel," Lysander explained calmly, although it sounded like there was a smile in his voice.

"Creeper," Castiel replied and I could feel his eyes boring into the top of my skull.

Thankfully the teacher walked in at that point and immediately set about explaining to us 'the aims and objectives of art at Sweet Amoris High.' _Way to make something about self-expression sound like something you create with a formula._ Apparently the universe had something against me though, because after she'd stopped talking, the teacher separated us into pairs to do a quick sketch and I was designated with non other than Sleeping Beauty himself.

Mentally reprimanding myself for not being able to keep my mouth shut, I shifted my chair so that I was beside Castiel. "Who watches someone sleeping, seriously?" He said, crossing his arms again and narrowing his eyes at me. From this closer distance, I was finally able to make out the mixture of greys and browns that made up his stormy irises and see how they were almost reflective of the world around him.

"Who sleeps first thing on a Monday?" I replied, knowing that it was a stupid response as soon as it left my lips. The arrogant snort that Castiel gave indicated that he also thought it wasn't a good comeback, nor a proper answer. _Why couldn't I be paired with Violette? _I thought in frustration as I glanced over at the quiet girl, who was now on the other side of the room beside a bubbly ginger girl named Iris.

The next hour was probably the hardest class I'd ever had. Whilst trying my hardest not to encourage Castiel by replying to his jabs with quick retorts, I also had to try to draw a sketch that answered the assigned topic. _What kind of topic is 'high school life' anyway? I mean, how creative can you get with that, all I know is that there's a lot of jerks and unnecessary problems. _I thought in a huff, so that's what I ended up drawing.

While Castiel sat there and refused to help with 'our' sketch and continued to bait me with jibes, before giving up, leaning back in his chair again and closing his eyes, I stayed silent and drew something I felt was personally appropriate to my partner and myself. With twenty minutes still left of class and only half the pairs still working, the rest had finished early and been allowed to leave, I finally set down my charcoal and looked at the sketch with a small amount of pride.

"You can hand this in," I said to the brooding redhead beside me. With that, I picked up my bag and sauntered out of the room, leaving Castiel to stare at the picture of a guy with features similar to his own, standing inside a jail cell with handcuffs around his wrists.


	4. Three Is Lucky

**Chapter Four: Three Is Lucky**

Castiel didn't enter my mind again until later that night when I was sitting on my bed procrastinating. As usual, I had my sketchbook open and was aimlessly flicking through the pages desperately seeking inspiration. My golden eyes narrowed when I came across the drawing of a straight-cut purple blazer with a white satin lining. _Anna._

I could remember exactly when I'd designed the piece and how long it had taken me, at the time it seemed worth it but soon after I realised it wasn't. My best friend at the time had inspired the blazer with her dreams to be a wealthy businesswoman. The purple and satin still emitted wealth and power, but the piece itself just served as a reminder of the many people who now hated me.

It was then that I remembered the way Lysander's contrasting colours and smooth features had stuck a cord with me and I decided to try and put some of it down on paper. Flipping to a new page, I began making light, flowing lines, curving them to resemble feathers or the Victorian boy's hair. As I continued, I noticed something strange about the way my hand was moving. _Obviously I'm not in the pencil mood; maybe I've got some charcoal lying around…_

After a few minutes of scavenging through unpacked boxes, I managed to find a stash of charcoal. It surprised me how happy I was to find the black sticks; after all, I usually preferred the clean lines of pen or pencil. Shrugging it off as the strike of inspiration, I went back to my bed and started a new sketch.

As I restarted recreating the delicate lines of Castiel's friend, it was Castiel who jumped into my thoughts, like a painful flash of lightning when you're staring into the dark sky. _Lysander. Charcoal. Castiel. Sketching. High school life. _Suddenly my thoughts all made sense, I'd been wondering about the rebel's reaction to that stupid drawing in art class. _Well, that is my natural curiosity. Plus, it'd be great if it pissed him off. _I thought, albeit a little smugly.

On their own accord, my eyes flicked down to what I'd been drawing and it was then that I realised I'd been accidentally still drawing the whole time I'd been thinking, again. What I saw surprised me. There in front of me wasn't something that resonated the Victorian boy, but rather the hotheaded redhead and not in the same way as my sketch from earlier that day. In fact, it was a short but flowing skirt that looked at if it could be made of chiffon, either that or fire.

It was obvious that the piece was derived from my thoughts about the fiery redhead. Automatically I picked up a red pastel and shaded in the flowing sections of the skirt, which wrapped around each other to create a shape that looked almost like the flame of a candle. After I'd finished, I put down the crayon and lifted up my sketchbook, inspecting the drawing with scrutiny. As my eyes scanned over the lines again, I was reminded of the mixture of greys and browns that made up Castiel's eyes as he'd glared at me.

Picking up more pastels, I took my time designing a jacket to go with the skirt that was practically glowing off the white pages of my sketchbook. Eventually I was able to sit back again and feel somewhat accomplished at the two new pieces. The jacket had faded lines of various shades of brown and grey that melded together just like they did in the eyes that inspired them, and the hem reached just below where the wearer's waist would be. I felt proud of my designs for the first time since I had moved to Sweet Amoris. _And it's all thanks to Castiel. Which means it's all thanks to trouble, again._

Obviously that thought bothered me, but at the same time I felt oddly compelled to not immediately rip up the drawings and force all thoughts of the troublesome redhead out of my mind. Something about the amount of joy I'd experienced in those past few minutes made me want to continue, both designing Castiel-inspired clothing and keeping the guy around. _Maybe having three people I don't fend off with a hot poker, wouldn't be such a bad thing._

The next morning I arrived to school on time and immediately headed towards the school gardens, where Violette and I had agreed to meet. When I got there I wasn't surprised to see that my purple-haired companion wasn't there yet, however the smell of cigarette smoke did catch me off-guard. I had quit smoking after moving towns, but the intoxicating stench of the smoke drifting my way was bringing back the cravings.

Deciding that I had the right to find the culprit and tell them to fuck off, I rounded a corner that led me further into the gardens and came face-to-face with the boy that had plagued my thoughts the night before. _Castiel. Why am I not surprised that he's a smoker. _I thought with a small sigh, already beginning to regret my decision to try to get to know the rebel. Reminding myself that it was for the sake of my art form, I finally made eye contact with the tall guy, only realising then that he'd been glaring at me.

"Hi," I said slowly, my rough voice seeming to resound loudly in the deathly silence that had enveloped us since my gold eyes had connected with his smoldering ones.

"What the fuck do you want?" He said harshly. _He seems annoyed, good; inspiration is inspiration, doesn't mean it needs to come from positive interactions and I'd still prefer to not have Trouble following me around everywhere._

"I don't want anything from you."

"Then why the fuck are you here?"

"I wasn't looking for you, I was looking for Violette. Not everything's about you."

"Could've fooled me, Princess, with that sketch of yours yesterday."

_Ah, he did look at it when I'd left. _I thought with a small grin. "Did you like it?" I asked, my grin turning more devious with each word, baiting him to explode. I wasn't disappointed.

"It was fucked up!" Castiel ground out in a much louder voice, obviously resenting me for making such a bold drawing which depicted everything that he was probably afraid of deep down; his teenage years impacting the rest of his life in uncontrollable ways.

"Kiss your mother with that mouth?" My voice had more of a bite to it now too, it was almost as though I'd completely forgotten about my vow to just blend in at this school.

To my surprise, he didn't respond to my quip about his swearing. In fact, the only noise that escaped him was a strange sort of growl and then he threw his cigarette on the path and ground it out with his boot with unnecessary force. After another moment of heavy silence, the tall guy swept past me and stomped away in the direction of the courtyard, leaving me to feel that I'd definitely hit a sore spot.

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**A/N: Hey everyone! I just wanted to say thanks to those who are already reading and reviewing this fanfic and I just wanted to say that the support is greatly appreciated! Please feel free to leave constructive criticism, but positive feedback is also really nice too haha. Hope everyone had a great Easter ~ YeRachael**


	5. Precautionary Principle

**Chapter Five: Precautionary Principle**

No sooner had Castiel stormed off, Violette had silently crept her way along the path leading from the opposite direction. "W-Was that Castiel?" She asked in her small voice, her grey eyes flicking in the direction the redhead had disappeared to. I just nodded, my golden eyes narrowed to slits.

The two of us didn't say anything else about the troublesome boy until later that day, at lunch. In fact we didn't talk at all until then because we had different classes. When we were seated in the garden for lunch, the quiet girl finally mustered up the courage to ask about the previous day.

"So, how was art? I didn't see you or Castiel at the end of class?"

"It would've been better if I wasn't paired with _him_, but it was alright, I mean I finished the sketch early so I left."

"What did you draw?"

"Castiel in jail."

A long pause followed, in which time Violette looked as though she'd seen a ghost. Slowly, a small grin crept across her face, much to my relief, and even the tiniest of giggles managed to bubble past her thin lips. "I can't believe you'd do that, I thought you were like me," she said simply.

Something about her statement really got to me and I instantly felt myself growing worried about my actions. If they'd drawn Violette's attention like that, then maybe I really wasn't doing so well on being 'small'. However, taking into consideration the lack of interaction I'd had so far, at least I knew I had the unapproachable bit down pat. "Don't worry, I'm definitely like you," I replied with a warm smile, which she returned enthusiastically.

"You do like to stand up to Castiel though…and he hasn't even done anything to you, yet," I heard Violette whisper after another pause.

"Precautionary principle."

This earned me another smile from the shy girl and I got the feeling that she understood exactly where I was coming from. Honestly, the best part about Violette was the way she didn't pry a lot, that is, she didn't ask _why_ I'd drawn Castiel in jail; she just accepted it. It felt nice to be dependent on someone else for a change, rather than everyone being dependent on me.

The interesting thing about the precautionary principle is that it's all well and good for scientists and politicians to say that discretionary decisions can be made to prevent a possibly harmful situation from happening, but what they don't take into consideration are the dynamics of high school. While I was trying to both keep Castiel at arm's length, I also wanted to learn about him and I was all but willing to let a little harm happen in the process. In hindsight, my forward and logical thinking was a blessing because Sweet Amoris High was a very small school.

In fact the next classroom I walked into after my lunch discussion with Violette, already had the redhead seated in the far corner aimlessly staring out the window. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't stop and look at him for a moment, with the midday sun streaming in through the window lighting up his face, he was actually very handsome. _But he's also fun to annoy and that way there is no chance of us ever being friends because he'll hate me. And there's my inspiration, without the drama._

Although I'd never considered myself a bully, I definitely enjoyed the occasional argument and rivalry and unfortunately for Castiel, I had him in my sights as my current target. I knew he could take it and dish it out as well. So with a cocky grin, I strolled over and sat down next to him, not making eye contact. The low groan that I heard from beside me sent the corners of my lips twitching up higher and I chanced a sideways glance at him.

No sooner had I let my eyes drift over to him, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I spun my head around quickly. To my surprise, standing over me was the golden-haired Student Body President, Nathaniel. I'd only met Nathaniel once, when I'd collected my timetable and completed my registration, but we hadn't actually talked. Even if I was going to be my old popular self the goody-two-shoes standing before me still wouldn't have made the cut, he just wasn't my type. However, keeping in mind that I still was _trying_ to blend in, I'd already decided that being polite to the proper boy would be the best option.

"Hey, Lilli. I just wanted to check how you're fitting in," he said in a surprisingly deep voice that was smooth and calming.

"I'm fitting in pretty well, thanks Nathaniel," I replied with a smile.

The guy nodded, smiling at me once more before noticing whom I was sitting next to. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he bent a little so his face was closer to mine. "And you've made _friends?_" The way he put emphasis on the last word told me that he was obviously asking about my relationship with Castiel and the venom with which he said it told me that the rebel was definitely not good news. _As annoyed as I am with myself, that's why I'm sitting here, Natty-boy._ I thought with mirth.

"I'm friends with Violette, but that's all," I said, faking innocence and running a hand nonchalantly through my thick black curls. This seemed to pacify the blonde boy and he didn't say anything else before walking away and sitting down in the front row.

"You really are weird, you know," came the gravely voice of Castiel, causing me to turn my head back to him.

"How so?" I asked, feeding him the bait ever so intentionally.

"First you act tough, then shy, then you insult me with a fucking drawing, and now you don't melt when Golden Boy looks at you. Weird," he said with a slight snicker, although there was still annoyance clear in his voice.

"Maybe I'm trying to help the school out by giving you whiplash."

"Or maybe you just don't know how to act around me."

This made me grin deviously, which he returned with no sign of a lack of self-confidence. _Flirting. _I thought in amusement, well that wasn't very original. His mischievous grin on the other hand, was very original and just screamed Castiel. It also made my eyes flick towards his lips involuntarily.

"Yeah, maybe." _Just as long as I don't forget about the precautionary principle._

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**A/N: Wow, two chapters in one day...yeah I am definitely procrastinating from doing uni work. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and I'm sorry if it's a bit repetitive, I promise things will start moving soon; I'm just really trying to show exactly how Lilli's thoughts work and how they justify her actions, even if it doesn't always look like it to the outside world. Please R&R! ~ YeRachael**


	6. Price Worth Paying

**Chapter Six: Price Worth Paying**

That night when I got home, I had a terrifying realisation. After spending a whole class sitting next to Castiel, we'd actually gotten talking and I actually didn't mind! In fact after we'd 'formally introduced ourselves', I'd actually enjoyed talking to him. _And it doesn't hurt that he's hot either._

On the walk home from school, Violette had caught up to me and we'd had another brief but easy-going chat. Unfortunately the topic she'd chosen was Mr. Trouble himself. And I hadn't minded!

"So what did you and Castiel talk about during class? I heard Amber talking to Nathaniel and he said you and Castiel sat next to each other?" Violette asked, her grey eyes darting around nervously.

"I don't know really. I mean I sat next to him to annoy him, but we sort of just talked normally. Like you and I do," I replied, arching an eyebrow questioningly at the way she was acting. I already knew Violette was naturally shy and albeit a little anxious at times, but even I could tell this was different.

"You're nice, Lilli, but a little odd," she giggled quietly.

"How?"

"You just don't seem to care about what others think of you, which is good! But…well, you've caught Amber's attention now and that's something you should care about."

I paused for a moment. I'd only been at the school two days and I had no idea who this Amber girl was or why Nathaniel was gossiping with her. "Who's Amber?"

It was like the girl's name was taboo to say or something because I could've sworn that Violette glanced around us frantically before finally meeting my golden gaze again. "Amber is Nathaniel's sister. She's a bully," she said quietly.

"Has she hurt you?" I asked, already deciding that Nathaniel's sister was Miss Trouble and feeling my strong-willed nature forcing me to be concerned about my purple-haired friend's welfare.

"N-No, she hasn't hurt me, but that's because I stay out of things," Violette replied quickly. She granted me a small smile, obviously indicating that she understood that I cared about her. "She might do something to you though, if you keep talking to Castiel. I mean, you're new and pretty and I don't think anyone has had a 'normal' talk with Castiel in years, besides Lysander…" The way Violette's voice trailed off and a pale blush dusted her creamy cheeks at the mention of the Victorian boy didn't escape my notice, but I decided not to bring it up, yet. At the time I was more interested in Mr. and Miss Trouble.

"Violette," I began, snapping her out of her thoughts, "Why is Amber interested in me if I talk to Castiel?"

"Oh, because she likes him."

My eyes narrowed at this. _Seriously, that's it! Oh God, it's like my old school all over again! What is it with teens and teen angst! _Violette could obviously see what I was thinking because she giggled again and touched my hand with hers playfully.

"And now you look like a threat, but that's what you get for being so pretty."

It was my turn to giggle and despite myself, I felt pleased with her compliment. _I am still a teenage girl after all. _I thought to justify my feelings. _Uh, feelings…that reminds me… _"Violette, do you like Lysander?"

The much darker blush that painted the purple-haired girl's cheeks told me that I was right, even though she didn't say anything. I just smirked and wrapped an arm around her shoulders affectionately. "Don't worry, I don't have anyone to tell," I said reassuringly, winking at her. That really seemed to cement our friendship.

But as I sat on my bed that night, remembering the afternoon's events, I had another spurt of inspiration. Obviously, it was Castiel-orientated.

From what I'd gotten him to tell me during class, he was indeed the school's stereotypical rebel and no-one 'messed' with him. But from what I gathered with my natural intuition, he was a jerk with a kind heart. And from what Violette had said, he was also the target of a crazy fangirl, Amber. _Mr. Trouble is already making my head hurt, so why can't I just leave him alone! Are a few sketches and outfit ideas really worth this? _I wondered, feeling frustrated and getting an unsettling sense of deja vu.

When I remembered the soft touch in Castiel's grey eyes as he briefly mentioned that he had a dog, I decided that yes it was worth it. And I came to another conclusion; 'jerkiness' was also a synonym for 'hopelessness'. After all, what kind of person changed their tune so quickly towards someone; annoying to intrigued and genuine? Me, that's who, as well as Castiel. _We're both pretty hopeless without someone similar to talk to. And we've both only taken to a quiet confidant. We're the same. _And that was easily the most terrifying realisation I ever made.

At risk of repeating myself too much, it was also what inspired to begin the most beautiful dress I'd ever designed. I started drawing it that night, only getting down the general loose shape and the way the long sleeves dipped off the shoulder and extended past the fingers. Immediately the model looked almost forlorn, weighed down by the imagined fabric. _Sort of hopeless… _Yes, whatever I was getting myself into was definitely a price worth paying when it came to getting to know Castiel.

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**A/N: Hey! Okay so I know that the story is REALLY slow at the moment and I am SO sorry about the repetition, but I promise things will escalate SOON! You can probably already tell where things are going haha. Also the reason that the chapters are so short is because I'm also posting this on the _My Candy Love _fanfic forum and, like I said before, it helps me to keep up regular updates. Please R&R or at least tell me if you like it or hate it, something! Thank you! ~ YeRachael**


	7. I Don't Think

**Chapter Seven: I Don't Think**

As it turned out, changing my behaviour really was a lot harder than I'd thought it would be. Not only could I feel that I was being drawn increasingly closer to Mr. Trouble, but by the end of the first week at Sweet Amoris High, I'd already had my first encounter with Miss Trouble.

It was Friday and I was walking home, feeling slightly relieved that it was the end of the week and I hadn't actually met Amber yet. From what Violette had told me over the previous two days, running into the blonde bitch was definitely not something I wanted. Except, I almost felt that I couldn't care less because over those two days I'd also had another couple of chats with Castiel. I'd be lying if I said that he wasn't growing on me.

I'd just rounded the corner that led into my street, when I heard a shrill voice behind me. "We haven't met yet, Little Girl," the voice said, the high-pitched tone making me cringe.

Sighing dejectedly, I stopped walking and turned around slowly. Sure enough, my golden eyes immediately narrowed in on a tall blonde girl and two other girls who were following her obediently; a very pretty Asian girl and a tall brunette. All three of them were smirking. _I bet my sketchbook that this is Amber and her 'friends'. I was so close to getting home, too! _I thought silently, refusing to answer her.

My silence and glare didn't deter her from continuing to stalk towards me, her high-heels making obnoxious clacking sounds against the pavement with each determined step. In fact I got the impression that my glare was actually encouraging her, much to my chagrin. "I've seen you around, Lilli," Amber said slyly as the three girls came to a halt in front of me.

I raised an eyebrow at her, keeping my mouth closed defiantly. "And I don't like you," she continued, narrowing her eyes aggressively. _Or just pompously, because I don't think this girl has ever actually been in a fight before. Not like me._

"I don't care," I finally replied. Quickly, I turned around and began walking again. Just as I was beginning to think I was going to be able to avoid further confrontation, I felt a hand slap my shoulder and saw the world spin around me as I was turned forcefully.

"Well you should care, Little Girl!" Amber yelled, glaring down at me with an ice-cold stare.

Despite myself, I actually felt intimidated, which was bad news. _Yeah, bad news for her. _"Well I don't! Touch me again though and I will, Barbie!" I yelled back, my brassy voice clear and assertive. The fact remained though that I had actually yelled at her, which I knew would only prompt her to retaliate. Damn it!

A nasty grin split the blonde's glossed lips at my outburst, although some of the confidence had slipped out of her emerald eyes. "What you don't like being touched? So if I did, this," she said, pushing my shoulder and causing me to take a step backwards, "You'd get mad?" Her voice was taunting and so annoying!

"Yes," I replied, taking two steps forward so that I was barely pressing my front up to her. It was the eye contact though that I knew would get to her. Bitches like Amber hated direct eye contact and I'd perfected my challenging stare years ago.

"Back off, Little Girl!" Amber shrieked, pushing me more forcefully. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw the other two girls step around Amber so that they were standing just behind me on opposite sides. I felt like the kid in the center of piggy-in-the-middle.

"No thanks," I replied curtly, smiling at her as I moved forward again. This time our fronts were practically crushed up against each other, the air between us was stiff with our radiating irritation.

"I said back off!" Amber growled. Obviously that was the signal her cronies had been waiting for because, no sooner had she shut her mouth again, I felt two pairs of manicured fingers grasp my upper arms tightly and haul me away from the steaming blonde.

"And I said don't touch me," I growled. With a disturbingly strong wave of deja vu, I quickly spun around and ripped my arms free from the girls' painful grips. Although I wanted to just stop there and not continue, my body was working by itself again because I felt my hand come into contact with something soft and warm. Then I heard Amber's high-pitched voice let out a surprised scream of pain.

_Oh please, I've been slapped way worse than that. _I thought as I watched her stumble backwards, clutching her throbbing cheek. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at me. "You are NOT like Little Miss Violette, bitch! I'll be coming back for you!" She screamed, quickly straightening up and running away, followed closely by her equally stunned friends. Something about the haste they left with told me that none of them wanted to try me again, but I knew they would out of self-respect.

I was so disappointed with my lack of self-control and I let out a loud groan. After a moment of just staring up into the setting sun, I tightened the straps of my backpack and spun around on the heel of my boots. I couldn't get back to my house soon enough. Apparently the universe _really _didn't like me though, because I was only two houses away from being able to flop down on the couch, when I heard another voice call out to me.

"What the fuck was that, Princess?"

Groaning again, I stopped once more and looked to the left where the deep voice had come from. "It was entertaining, Red," I replied curtly, letting my eyes meet the stormy grey gaze of Castiel as he strode towards me, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his baggy black jeans.

"It was dumb," he said simply as he stopped in front of me. _Since when does Castiel actually approach someone? _Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I grinned up at him smugly.

"That's what made it so entertaining."

"You're weird."

"I know." _Seriously, you have no idea._


	8. Following The Smoke Trail

**Chapter Eight: Following The Smoke Trail**

I'll never know why but when I turned around again, Castiel followed me.

"Why'd Amber attack you?" He asked in his usual snarky tone, although I could've sworn that there was actual curiosity hidden in it.

"You call that an attack?" I replied, chuckling forcedly. Honestly, I just wanted to get home because I wasn't liking where things were going and I had the sickening feeling that I had to re-evaluate whether getting to know Castiel was a good idea.

"You didn't answer my question," he growled, lengthening his strides so that he managed to get in front of me. Except that meant he was standing right in front of my front door, not that he knew it.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I've never seen someone slap that whore before."

"That's shocking," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes in frustration.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"You think!" I'd had enough, so I pushed past him and quickly opened the door to my house. Just before I slammed the door I saw the look of shock momentarily hit his face, quickly followed by the wood door.

_Oh yeah smooth move, Lilli. _I thought disappointedly as I stomped up the stairs. As soon as I reached my room, I threw my bag in the corner and flopped down on the large bed with a loud sigh. _Why can't I just not react?! It's going to be history repeating itself if I keep going like this!_

As I lay face down on my bed, mentally yelling at myself, I heard the sound of a door bang shut not too far away. It sounded like it came from the house next door. I wouldn't have paid it any mind, if it weren't for the smell of cigarette smoke that began drifting through my open window not long after. _This isn't fucking helping! _I thought hopelessly, sitting up on my bed and staring out the window.

I couldn't believe it when I looked down to glare at my neighbour and my eyes found a familiar redhead perched on the back porch of the house only a few metres away from mine. The universe definitely hated me. As I sat there staring down at Castiel in disbelief, I realised that if I hadn't have been caught in my own little world before, I would have questioned why he'd just happened to be there when I'd had my confrontation with Amber. I mean, why else would he have been there, of course he lived nearby! _But next door!_

It didn't help at all that he was smoking, the noxious smoke making me pine for some sort of release. Just as I was about to stand up and shut the window, Castiel obviously realised that someone was staring at him because his head snapped upwards and he looked directly at me. He looked pissed off.

"Lilli?" He asked, his deep voice easily making its way over to me. Biting my lip grumpily, I stood up off my bed and leaned out the window so that he could see me clearly.

"Hey," I said, forcing myself to sound nonchalant.

"Why do you keep staring at me, creep?" He said, anger clear in his voice.

For some reason, his tone really got to me, but not in the way I expected it to; I actually felt guilty. _That's not a good sign. _But despite my logical intuition, I couldn't help but want to…fix things. So with a sigh, I leant further out my window and ran a hand through my hair in an unusually sheepish manner.

"It's not like I mean to," I replied, my voice almost soft and definitely sincere.

This seemed to strike a cord with the redhead because he blinked up at me, seemingly taken aback by the lack of fight in my demeanor.

"Can I come down?" I asked, rolling my eyes at him. Castiel just nodded and narrowed his eyes a little.

In less than a minute I was down the stairs, out the front door and jumping over the fence of Castiel's house. "Hey," I said again as I strode over the somewhat unkempt lawn, making my way over to where Castiel was sitting and glaring at me.

Before he had time to react, I sat down beside him and plucked the cigarette from his lips. No matter how much I wanted to stomp the thing into the ground, I brought it to my own lips and took a long drag. Castiel looked surprised, but not disgruntled at my actions. After a minute, I passed the cigarette back to him with the tiniest of smiles. "Old habits," I said with a shrug.

"You're so weird," Castiel snickered, taking possession of the small white stick again, breathing out the smoke loudly.

The atmosphere that enveloped us was scarily friendly and I didn't feel uncomfortable, which made me feel uneasy. _Ironic. _I thought as I looked around the backyard I was now sitting it, trying not to make eye contact with the stunning guy next to me. However, my natural confidence was showing itself again because as soon as I felt a pair of eyes on me, I met the gaze.

It wasn't Castiel's. To my surprise, as soon as I turned my head, I was pushed down off the small porch and onto the grass by a tremendous force making direct impact with my chest. "Demon!" I heard Castiel yell.

Realising that my eyes had shut automatically, I flung them open and came face-to-face with a large dog's. "Get off her, boy!" Castiel yelled again, standing up and dragging the animal off of me. I sat up and stared at the boy, who was looking at me with what looked a lot like care. I didn't think too much about the look though because I instantly leant forward and stuck my hand out for the dog to sniff. "He likes you?" Castiel said in suspicion as the dog happily became accustomed to me, before I began patting his large head.

"Of course, I'm a dog person," I said simply, rubbing the dog's ears playfully as I smirked up at his owner.

"Demon doesn't usually like girls, but whatever," Castiel said gruffly, releasing Demon and sitting back on the porch, facing me as I was still sitting on the grass.

"What about your mum?" I asked absentmindedly. I'd forgotten entirely about the way he'd reacted the first time I'd mentioned his mum.

"She's not around," Castiel growled, his eyes practically burning into mine.

"Oh, my bad," I replied quickly, knowing that it would not be a good idea to pry further.

"Don't act so scared, Princess, it's not like she's dead. Mum and Dad just work for an airline so they're never here," Castiel said darkly, rolling his eyes as another small smirk graced his face, making his features soften significantly.

"Good to know," I said simply. We sat there for a few more minutes, just sitting in silence as I affectionately stroked the Belgian Shepard's dark coat. "Do you want to come over for dinner, seeing as you're home alone?" I asked suddenly, finally letting my eyes wander over to Castiel's.

A slightly awkward silence followed as the tall guy looked at me somewhat taken aback. "Yeah sure, why not," he said finally, averting his gaze. It annoyed me a little that I couldn't see his face then because, for reasons I couldn't quite think of at the time, I wanted to know what he was thinking. At least I had the rest of the night to get to know what he was thinking.

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**A/N: Hey, yay two chapters in one day! So I'm so sorry if the flow in this chapter is really bad, please forgive me, but do tell me if it's impossible to understand and I'll edit it! Please R&R and suggest this fanfic to others if you think it's worthy ;) ~ YeRachael**


	9. A Friendly Affair

**Chapter Nine: A Friendly Affair**

While Castiel was back at his house 'getting ready' for dinner, although I highly suspected that he was just hanging out in his room and smoking, I returned home to tell my parents about our dinner guest. My parents had always been very supportive of me, which was part of the reason why I got into trouble in our old town but also how I managed to get out of it. I'd do anything for them.

However, even they were a little surprised when I said I'd invited the boy next-door to my new sanctuary. In all honesty I think Mum had expected me to dress in all black and spend my days cooped up in the house for the rest of my senior year and I had too, but life never went as planned; that much we all knew.

"So what's he like?" My bubbly mother asked as she went about setting an extra place at the small dining table.

"Me," I said simply, shrugging at her with a small chuckle.

"Oh joy," came my dad's sarcastic voice, although it wasn't unkind. I learnt the way I speak from him.

"I know, aren't you just so thrilled," I retorted, smiling and nudging him playfully.

"My deepest wish has been granted," he said as he kissed the top of my head affectionately.

My parents were older than most of my peers' as they were entering their late 50s, but they were definitely more active than most. Mum still dyed her hair the same shade of black that it was when she was younger, her skin was still pale like mine, and she had never stopped teaching the piano. The only thing that had changed about her was that silver-rimmed glasses now framed her large, shining blue eyes. Dad, on the other hand, was more sun-worn from all the years he'd been a construction site worker, with short completely grey hair and smiley yellow eyes that were exactly the same as mine.

Not long after Mum had taken the beef roast and vegies out of the oven, there was a knock at the door. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't slightly surprised that Castiel had actually showed up, part of me had expected him to just bail.

After running to beat my dad to the door, I straightened my posture and planted an expression of nonchalance on my face. "Hey, Red," I said as I motioned the tall guy over the threshold.

"I could smell dinner from my place," he said with no emotion as he walked into the short hallway and looked around. Almost immediately, my dad strolled up to us. "Hello, Sir," Castiel said, sticking out his hand for the older man to shake.

_That was strangely polite, maybe he's not as 'hopeless' as I thought. _Obviously Dad had a similar thought to me because his usual smile widened a bit more and he shook Castiel's hand firmly. "Hello, Castiel, I'm Mark," Dad said in his raspy voice, he was a long time smoker, the one thing that Mum didn't completely adore about him.

As if on cue, my mum chose that moment to peak out from the kitchen and glide her way over to us. The look on Castiel's face told me that he was like nearly everyone else we'd met and thought that I looked almost like the perfect combination of both my parents.

"Castiel! It's so nice to see that Lilli hasn't been a complete hermit at Sweet Amoris! I'm Anne," Mum said sweetly, pulling the significantly taller boy into a warm embrace. Their parents would probably have embarrassed most teenagers at this point, but in case it wasn't clear already, I wasn't like most teenagers.

"It's cool to meet you both," Castiel said, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a small smile.

"Well dinner's already ready, so how about we eat!" Mum said happily, gesturing towards the set table. As usual, Mum and Dad sat on opposite ends and I took up one of the adjacent sides. Castiel didn't look at all out of his comfort zone as he took up the side opposite me, in fact he looked oddly comfortable. _I wonder how long it's been since he last had a family meal like this. _I wondered silently as I looked over at him as his grey eyes scanned the living-dining area around us.

Dinner passed by smoothly and I had the same feeling of uneasy contentedness that I'd had earlier when Castiel and I had been sitting on his back porch. However, the feeling of immense warmth that enveloped me throughout the entire affair overpowered the unsettling sensation tenfold. By the end of dessert, which was fruit salad with Mum's homemade vanilla bean ice cream, I felt like I knew the brooding redhead a little better.

One of the great things about my parents was that I could just sit back and learn about our dinner guest as they interrogated him between mouthfuls of Mum's sumptuous cooking. It turned out that because his parents were away from home most of the time, Castiel was legally independent and he'd been that way since sophomore year. That explained a lot about him really, especially when he mentioned that his parents had bought his dog, Demon, for him as a parting gift. _More like a sad attempt to mend the boy's broken heart._

After we'd all finished eating, Dad insisted that Castiel and I go upstairs and 'hang out', while he did all the washing up. Mum agreed and sat on the couch to watch the news while Dad headed into the kitchen. I loved the way they worked so perfectly together and shared responsibilities like a well-oiled machine, part of me hoped that I could let my guard down one day and find someone who I could be like that with.

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**A/N: Hey! So I wanted to give a shout-out to Exactlyamanda, who came up with the ship name for Castiel x Lilli: 'Calilli'! Thank you so much to everyone who is reading a reviewing, this is another double-upload so you can move straight on to chapter ten, yay!**


	10. I Don't Care

**Chapter Ten: I Don't Care**

As soon as Castiel and I made it to my room, Castiel flopped down onto my bed and I closed the door behind us. "Make yourself at home," I said with a sarcastic snicker as I sat down on my desk opposite the inviting bed.

"Your mum is an awesome cook," Castiel said with a moan of pleasure, stretching his arms above his head and touching the wooden headboard with his long fingers.

"It runs in the family," I said smugly, tucking a few black locks behind my ear.

Castiel snorted appreciatively and sat up, letting his dark gaze meet my bright one as soon as his back was up off the soft bedspread. "Good family then," he said with a smirk.

"It really is," I replied with my own smirk.

There was a short pause as Castiel broke eye contact and looked around my room. It didn't look like I'd only moved in a week ago; the cream walls were mostly covered by posters of rock bands and my own drawings and designs, the tall white bookshelf was completely full of novels, textbooks and notebooks, and the desk was covered in papers. "Nice room," he murmured so quietly that I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to hear him or not.

"Thanks," I said, quirking an eyebrow as I smirked at him again, "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Probably," Castiel chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest as he stood up and walked over to the window. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight," he said, leaning slightly out into the cool night air.

"Why's that?" I asked curiously, hopping off of the white desk and standing next to him with my hands stuffed into my jean pockets.

"You can see straight into my bedroom from here," he replied with a teasing smile, turning his head to look at me challengingly.

I looked in the same direction as he had. Sure enough, the first thing I saw was an open window leading into a messy room where Demon was sleeping on an unmade bed. "Well, I guess I can't get changed in front of the window anymore," I said, returning his look and narrowing my eyes playfully.

Castiel nodded in amusement, clearly impressed by my retort. However, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. "Shame," he said, lowering his head a little so that he was bowed over me slightly. _Damn it, boy!_ I thought with a mixture of amusement and annoyance as I averted my gaze from his smoldering grey eyes and willed my cheeks not to betray me with a pale blush.

The deep chuckle that pranced over to my ears as I sauntered back towards the desk told me that Castiel knew he'd won that round. _Yeah, but with a cheap shot…Still good though._

"So are your 'rents that interested in everyone you bring over?" I heard the same deep voice ask. I turned around and sat up on my desk again, seeing that Castiel had perched opposite me on the edge of my bed and was looking at me with a surprising amount of intrigue.

"Yeah basically," I said with a slight giggle, "But I'm pretty sure that they were really just impressed by the way you acted with them; the more questions you answered, the more they wanted to ask." My smile widened unconsciously as I thought about my parents, they were my life and they knew it.

This seemed to spike Castiel's interest even more. "Why's that?"

"I didn't want to make any friends here," I said before I could stop myself. I could've sworn Mum's food was like truth syrup.

"Why's that?" He asked again, leaning forward now and clasping his hands in front of his knees.

"Why do you care?" I was back on the defensive.

"I don't care."

"Good because neither do I."

Another silence followed, this time it was a little more awkward than before. Eventually I felt some of my self-resolve melt away, whether it was because of my full stomach or my deep-seated desire to get to know this boy, I didn't know. With an unintentionally loud groan, I tilted my head back before re-establishing eye contact.

"I didn't just _move _schools, I practically ran away," I began, making sure that my voice was strong and showed no signs of my regrets of my past. "See I don't put up with crap and at my old school that eventually meant that I got caught up with all this stupid drama. You know, egotistic guys and jealous girls, that sort of thing." I paused and looked at him, hoping that I wouldn't have to go on.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't scaring the redhead off; in fact he was leaning even closer to me now, his eyebrows raised as if to urge me on. _Oh for God's sake…you might as well say it, Lilli, it's not like you're trying to impress him or anything._ With another quiet sigh, I folded my arms around my waist and finished my story. "Well, I got sick of all the high school drama, so I made friends out of school; older friends, who had the same sense of justice and anti-bullshit as I did. We were, well we were vigil-antis basically. And one night they set fire to one of the unethical drug testing facilities on the edge of town, and we got caught. I got out of it though."

I stopped and stared at the guy opposite me for a moment, I couldn't believe how good it felt to tell someone all that. Here was a third-party, someone who didn't know any of the emotional turmoil attached to that story and it was strangely relieving. Naturally, I'd left out the part of me dating the leader of the vigil-anti group and the fact that they'd all sworn blind that I wasn't with them that night so that I didn't have to go to jail along with them; those were things that only Mum, Dad, myself, Jason and the rest of the group had to know.

Yet another pause engulfed my room as Castiel and I sat looking at each other. It looked as though he was waiting for me to burst into laughter and tell him I was kidding, but the look in my eyes must've told him the truth that I wasn't because he did something that caught me completely off guard. In one swift motion, he stood up and wrapped his strong arms around me, pulling me off the desk and up against his broad chest.

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**A/N: Hey again! So now you know Lilli's back story, what do you all think, too much too soon, is it a good story, can you see where things are going?! Stay tuned and please read and review! ~ YeRachael**


	11. Cold Attraction

**Chapter Eleven: Cold Attraction**

Castiel's hug was warm, comforting, understanding and overall horrifying. Although my brain was screaming at me to yank away from him and maybe even throw in a hard slap across his face for good measure, my heart was begging me to just enjoy the moment. _Wait, my heart?! _With that thought, I finally detached myself from the tall redhead, but I did it hesitantly.

"Um, thanks," I murmured, smiling at him sheepishly.

"The Ice Queen is melting," Castiel snickered, although he ran a hand through his hair a bit haphazardly which betrayed his collected demeanor.

"Don't tell Amber that," I replied with my teasing nature returning eagerly.

Castiel chuckled and took a step towards me again, which earned him a suspicious look from me. "As if I talk to that cow," he said with a somehow friendly glare.

"By what people have told me, it wouldn't surprise me if she made you talk to her; I hear that she _loves _you," I said in an almost-whisper because he was leaning over me again, making our fronts touch lightly.

Something flashed across the grey orbs staring down at me and he took a step back. It annoyed me that I felt a little disappointed when he sat back down on my bed and I couldn't feel his body heat against me anymore, after all, hadn't I wanted to get away from him only moments earlier?

"Who do you talk to, anyway?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest again.

"Only Violette really. But Lysander's said hi when we've seen each other in the hallway or in class," I said as I leant back up against my desk. I wasn't sure why, but Castiel scoffed when I finished talking. "What?" I asked curiously, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I swear you and Lys are the only two people to actually like that Violette girl," he said simply.

In a split second I was right back on the defensive again, my eyes narrowing even more and my lips pursing unattractively. "Maybe that's because we're the only two people who aren't so self-absorbed as to not try to get to know her. She's easily the nicest person I've ever met and she doesn't need to impress others to be happy," I said with unnecessary force.

Castiel stood up and glared at me. "Unlike you."

That really got to me. I'd just told him about my past and it was probably clear that I regretted it, and then he threw it back at me! "Yes, Castiel, unlike me! But at least I'm changing, and you know what else, at least I admit it," I bit back.

"What's that supposed to mean, Princess?"

"I don't think you're as tough and confident as you make yourself to be."

"Oh so you know me now?"

"I know your type."

"No, you know stupid criminals that get arrested."

"Yeah and you don't, which is exactly my point."

Castiel paused, obviously I'd hit too close to home yet again. The glare he gave me was piercing and icy, but the softness that he'd had in his eyes every time he mentioned Demon was back as well. "You don't know me," he said gruffly, strutting up to me again.

"Do I want to?" I replied, mirroring his movements so that we were chest-to-chest again, my neck craned upwards so that I could stare him right in the eye.

"Yes," he said, which shocked me. What surprised me even more though was when he grasped my arms tightly and pressed his mouth to mine in a desperate kiss.

Running on instinct, my eyes widened and I quickly yanked my right arm free from his large hand, bringing my own smaller one up to place a firm smack straight across his left cheek. Castiel recoiled upon the impact, but he didn't look angry; he looked impressed. "See you later, Princess," he said with a chuckle.

For once in my life, I couldn't move, I just stood there glaring at him with flushed cheeks as he opened my bedroom door and sauntered down the stairs. I listened as I heard him say goodbye to my parents and then close the front door behind him. Remembering that our bedroom windows were only two metres or so apart, I walked over to my window and closed it then drew the blinds.

As soon as I'd done that, I flung myself onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Why do I always overreact?" I groaned, feeling silly. I replayed the kiss in my mind and that's when his parting words really sunk in, he hadn't yelled at me or made it seem like I'd overreacted, in fact it was almost like he'd expected me to behave that way. _Is he playing me? No, he's begging me to get to know him better… _My thoughts were like a vortex of self-destruction, so naturally, I leant over and grabbed my sketchbook.

I opened to the page of the dress I was drawing in thought of Castiel. With as much precision as I could, I began sketching the bust and waist of the dress, making the lines hug the model closely. As I did so, I thought about the way Castiel's arms had held me tightly as he hugged me and the way his hands had pinned my arms against my sides as he kissed me, as inspiration. It looked amazing and I felt extremely proud as I placed my pencil down again.

It was then that I realised I could hear music coming from next door. Like a moth to a flame, I slid off my bed and opened my blinds a fraction so that I could see into Castiel's room. A smile easily took over my lips when I saw the magnetic redhead sitting on his bed, holding a red electric guitar and strumming it with expert fingers. _Wait, is that Winged Skulls? _I thought, straining my ears to hear the song the instrument was producing through the glass of my shut window.

When I was certain that it was indeed a song by my favourite band, I let my blind fall into place again and sat back down on my bed, my eyes automatically finding the largest of my Winged Skulls' posters. Smiling to myself at the irony of the whole thing, I picked up my mobile phone to text Violette.

**Feel like a girls' day tomorrow? I'm thinking we might have some typical teenage things to talk about.**

I sent the text and was rewarded with a pretty quick reply from my purple-haired friend.

**Alright! Meet me at the town gardens at 10AM.**

I went to sleep that night eager to see Violette the next morning, even if we were going to discuss one my most taboo subjects; boys.

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**A/N: In case you're wondering, yes, I am procrastinating! Anyway, how was this chapter for Calilli moments! Hope you enjoyed, please review!**


	12. Between Friends

**Chapter Twelve: Between Friends**

The Sweet Amoris town gardens at mid-morning was the perfect scenery for Violette and I to discuss our shameful hormone-driven, teenage feelings. After an hour of strolling through the rows of rose bushes and sculpted hedges, I really felt that was the closest I'd ever been to someone other than my parents.

"Gosh, I hope that Lysander doesn't kiss as forcefully as Castiel," Violette mused as we came to a particularly large old oak.

I smiled at her and looped my arm with hers. "Lysander strikes me as more of the ask-before-kissing type," I said teasingly.

Violette went a little pink. "I suppose so," she muttered.

"I also can't imagine him doing anything past handholding until the third date."

This made the purple-haired girl giggle and beam up at me shyly. "I don't know how you're so confident about this sort of thing, Lilli. I mean…I'm nervous about talking about Lysander like this and I've liked him for years, but you don't even know Castiel."

"I think that's actually what makes it easier for me, Vi. I don't know what I'm getting into, so I can't stress and I've also had experience with guys before."

"You do like him though, don't you?"

I paused, not exactly sure how to answer my friend's question. During the past hour I'd told her all about how I got design inspiration from people and events in my life and I'd tried to stress that was all Castiel was to me in the beginning, but after we'd really talked it through, I wasn't sure that I didn't have feelings for the redheaded rebel after all. "I don't know, but I think he's troubled and he needs a friend other than Mr. Perfect," I said finally.

Violette blushed again at the mention of her Victorian crush. We explored the vast gardens for another hour before deciding that we would head into the main part of town to grab some lunch, and to put the first step of our plan into effect.

I found it adorable how confidently Violette led us towards the small boutique in the center of town, she'd obviously done the trip there countless times. As we walked, she recounted to me the first time she'd gone there and how she'd almost had a panic-attack when she realised the place was owned and ran by Lysander's older brother, Leigh. I actually laughed when she said that she'd dropped her sketchpad when Lysander had walked out from the back room while Leigh was trying to sell her a lacy purple bra.

"Don't worry, I'll keep Leigh entertained while you invite Lysander to come to lunch with us," I reminded her as we entered the small shop. As soon as my golden eyes scanned around me, I felt like I'd died and gone to Heaven. "This place is amazing," I breathed, not realising that I'd said it out loud until I heard a smooth chuckle from behind the counter.

"Why thank you, my dear," said a tall ebony-haired boy. From the way his hair fell perfectly around his idealistic jawline, I knew automatically that the older guy was Leigh.

"You're more than welcome! I'm a designer myself, so this place is just breathtaking!" I said sincerely, although I was exaggerating a little for Violette's sake.

"Thank you!" Leigh gushed, stepping out from behind the counter to kiss the top of my hand. I had to stop myself from hitting him over the back of the head after all he was just being nice. "I'm Leigh, the owner and main designer of _Sweet Designs_," he said in his silky voice, straightening up again and beaming down at me.

"I'm Lilli, Violette's friend," I replied, gesturing behind me with a smile. "I just moved here and she said I just had to see this place."

"Right she was!" Leigh said enthusiastically, placing a hand on the small of my back and leading me over to a rack of frilly dresses. Although I could appreciate the craftsmanship of the pieces and I had designed similar dresses before, when it came to things I would actually wear I hated leaving my comfort zone of black or denim, tight-fitting clothing.

As I had various trench coats shoved in front of my face, I was able to quickly glance around the shop and see, much to my relief that Violette was talking to Lysander. Obviously the stunning silver-haired boy had been intrigued by all the noise his brother was making in the main part of the shop so he'd come to investigate. I would've been happy to place money on the fact that he wouldn't have expected shy little Violette to approach him, let alone see me half-buried under extravagant garments.

With the amount of attention Leigh was showing me, it was hard to imagine that he had a long-time girlfriend, Rosalya from my year level. However, after a good thirty minutes of being pushed around the cluttered shop, I was finally able to escape into the cool outdoors again with Violette.

"I did it!" Violette babbled excitedly as soon as our shoes made contact with the pavement. "Lysander said that he would be delighted to have lunch with us and he would meet us in the café in fifteen minutes."

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed tightly. "I think this is the happiest I've ever seen you," I teased, winking at her.

"I guess so," she giggled, tucking a purple lock of hair behind her ear and focusing on the path with a small smile. "And now all we have to do is find Castiel," Violette continued, glancing up at me mischievously.

I agreed with a smirk and only minutes later, I was heading back towards my street alone. I'd left Violette in the café to wait for Lysander, while I went back to fetch Castiel under the pretense of both our closest friends having a date together and being anxious about it. Lysander had already agreed that he would text Castiel and say exactly that, which made me think that maybe Mr. Perfect wasn't so straight-forward and gallant as I'd originally thought.

As soon as I stepped onto Castiel's front porch, the door flew open. The tall redhead stood in front of me, arms crossed and a smug smirk written all over his face. "About time you got here," he said sarcastically, closing the door behind him and strolling out onto the path. "Lys texted me that you were coming, I didn't think you'd reenact grass growing on your way," he chuckled as we began to walk. _Oh yeah, this is going to be an interesting lunch._

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**A/N: Um, don't expect this sort of rapid updating all the time...I just think I must've accidentally swallowed creative pills or something haha. I hope this wasn't poorly written, there was just so much I wanted to get in and still ****keep it down to my 1000 word count! Please oh please, read and REVIEW ~ YeRachael**


	13. Double, Double Toil And Trouble

**Chapter Thirteen: Double, Double Toil And Trouble**

The café where we met Violette and Lysander made me feel as if I'd jumped back a few decades. Small tables and chairs made of dark wood were strewn randomly throughout the small shop, making it hard for Castiel and I to navigate our way over to our friends who had chosen to sit by the far wall.

"They couldn't make this easy, could they?" I muttered darkly when I hit my hip yet again on one of the hard table corners. The redhead in front of me just chuckled and kept walking as if I wasn't in pain behind him.

When we finally made it to the purple and silver-haired duo, I noticed that Violette looked more alive than I'd ever seen her. Something about the way her grey eyes were sparkling and her natural stammer was less pronounced when she greeted us made me smile appreciatively at her date, which he returned knowingly. _This guy just seems to get things. _I thought as I took up the seat beside Violette, and directly opposite Castiel.

"It's so lovely to see you again, Lilli. I'm sorry I didn't get to greet you in my brother's shop earlier, but I haven't seen him have that much fun with a customer in a while," Lysander said, sticking out his hand to shake mine as if we hadn't just seen each other the day before in Chemistry.

"You met Leigh?" Castiel interjected, scrunching up his face in confusion.

It was like the two guys had forgotten I had a voice because Lysander answered for me. "Yes, our lovely lady friends came by the store, and Leigh was very taken by Lilli," Lysander said, keeping his gaze steady the whole time. It amazed me just how good the Victorian boy was at manipulating the truth to get his way, from what I'd heard he was all for the complete and honest truth. I preferred this Lysander.

Although I wasn't entirely sure about why he'd said that to Castiel, as soon as the redhead's eyebrows shot up at his best friend, I knew. Lysander was helping me out by making Castiel jealous. _Vi's definitely scored the jackpot with this one._

"You do know Leigh's got a girlfriend," Castiel stated, albeit a little harshly, turning his head to look directly at me.

I could feel the heat from his eyes boring into mine and it made me question exactly what the kiss the previous night had meant, but I pushed that thought aside fiercely. "Yes," I said simply, not granting him any sort of emotion. A short but heavy pause fell across the table as Mr. Trouble and I stared at each other, both refusing to be the first to break eye contact. Luckily for my eyelids, Violette provided the best excuse to stop our game of visual-chicken.

"How are you, Castiel?" She said softly. I could've sworn Castiel almost jumped at the sound of her voice. I got the feeling that she'd never actually talked to him before.

"Fine," Castiel replied gruffly.

"That was nice," I said sarcastically, smiling at him smugly from across the table. I was rewarded with an indignant snort and a roll of his smoldering grey eyes, the same eyes that were slowly breaking down the barriers I'd worked so hard to forge.

"You should be more polite towards my date, Castiel," Lysander said smoothly, lifting a perfectly arched brow presumptuously.

"Oh how rude of me; congratulations to the happy couple," Castiel replied sarcastically, although he did smile at them both in a less-than-smug way.

"Thank you," Lysander replied simply.

"So what were you two lovebirds talking about before Trouble walked in?" I asked, nodding me head in Castiel's direction. He glared at me.

"W-We were just talking about school and favourite movies, things like that," Violette said obviously bashful again after our comments about her being on a date with the ever-graceful boy sitting opposite her and staring at her affectionately.

"Sounds like a pretty normal first date," I offered, nudging her reassuringly.

I heard Castiel scoff and I flicked my eyes to look at him questioningly. "Normal is overrated, Princess."

"Wouldn't I know," I replied smugly, narrowing my eyes at him challengingly.

"Which reminds me, I have to thank you, Lilli, for convincing this enchanting creature to approach me. I was beginning to suspect that my feelings were unrequited until you arrived," Lysander said as he reached across to place a gentle hand on top of Violette's pale clasped ones. Once again he'd succeeded in pacifying whatever it was Castiel and I were doing to each other, but it didn't stop my thoughts from starting up again.

"Oh yes! It turns out Lysander has liked me for as long as I've liked him!" Violette babbled, but she didn't look at me as she talked because her gaze was fixed unblinkingly on her date's, which he mirrored perfectly. _Like a Lysandeer caught in the headlights._

The rest of our 'lunch date' passed by easily and Castiel and I let the other two do all the talking. When we were leaving the waitress made a comment about the four of us making 'two really cute couples', which made me look at Castiel uncertainly. I was surprised to see that the same strange expression was also on his face as he peered down at me, but we didn't say anything until we were walking back to our street, leaving the other two to continue their date properly.

I was the first one to break the silence as we walked. "Okay, you can't tell me that you don't like Violette, she's such a sweetheart," I said, nudging him in the arm with my shoulder.

"She's nicer than you anyway," he retorted, nudging me back with a smirk.

"Which reminds me, how's that cheek of yours?" I snickered in my raspy voice.

"How was that kiss?" He grinned, cocking an eyebrow knowingly as he looked down at me in the burning late afternoon light.

I got the idea; nothing had changed between us. I liked it.

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**A/N: Please don't hate me if this chapter is poorly written!**

And if you haven't picked up on all my symbolism about fire (including the fiery redhead, arson, smouldering grey eyes, fiery temper, etc.) you might want to keep an eye out for that. Especially in the next chapter, which you can probably guess the title of because of the title of this chapter! Until next time, please R&R x


	14. Fire Burn And Cauldron Bubble

**Chapter Fourteen: Fire Burn And Cauldron Bubble**

I couldn't believe how cold the air was by the time Castiel and I strolled up to our shared driveway. Despite the sun not having yet finished disappearing completely behind the horizon, the wind was already nipping at our exposed skin and sending chills down my spine.

"Thanks for making Violette so happy," I said, finally breaking the comfortable silence that had surrounded us for most of the walk home.

Castiel just snickered in response and shook his head like he was shrugging it off. I already knew him enough to know that he'd actually taken it in though because he hadn't made eye contact. I smirked smugly.

Although I'd suspected that Castiel would shut the front the door in my face and I wouldn't see him again until school on Monday, I was surprised when he pushed me inside his house ahead of him. As soon as my right foot crossed the threshold, I heard the frantic scurrying of four large paws before Demon came barreling into view.

"Hey, Baby!" I greeted the large dog, bending down and catching him as he pushed his front paws up against my chest and tried to lick my face. "Down, Baby, you're heavy," I laughed, pushing the beast off of me and wrapping my arms around his thick neck affectionately.

"He's not a girl's dog," Castiel scoffed beside me, poking my head playfully.

"Could've fooled me; he's not exactly aggressive."

"Yeah, he must be sick."

I turned my head so I could look up at him, narrowing my golden eyes mischievously. "Oh yeah, because you've definitely trained him to be vicious," I said sarcastically as I stood up and placed my hands firmly on my hips.

No matter how much effort Castiel put into making it appear that he wasn't an 'average' teenage guy, there were certain things that even he couldn't hide. A perfect example of this was the way his eyes swiveled down to my chest when I pushed it out, with my hands gripping onto the sides of my jeans in fake nonchalance. "Whatever," Castiel responded, obviously distracted by the low-cut V-neck of my black long sleeved shirt.

My raspy laugh echoed around the small hallway, making the redhead glare at me defensively. "Let's go," he said when silence had fallen over us again. Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and the leather leash hanging behind the door. I just looked at him in mild confusion as he shoved me out the door, clipped the leash on Demon's collar and then followed me into the cool early evening.

"Where are _we_ going?" I asked, quirking my eyebrows and glaring up at him.

"Demon needs a walk."

"_Baby _needs a walk."

"You're right, it probably wouldn't hurt for you to get the exercise either."

His grin was smug as he angled his head down to me. I huffed in amusement and looked away from him, watching as the park came into view in the dimming light. The streetlights flicked on with a buzzing sound as we came to the small park, the sound giving me the eerie feeling that the bulbs would explode at any moment.

"Let me take him," I said suddenly, yanking the leash out of Castiel's large hand and walking ahead a little.

"Uh-" Castiel began. I didn't hear whatever warning he was going to tell me because no sooner had a gotten the leash firmly wrapped around my hand, Demon saw a stray cat stalking only a few metres away from us and broke into a mad sprint.

"Shit!" I swore, my raised voice splitting through the air as I was pulled off my feet and came crashing to the ground.

"Demon!" Castiel yelled, running up to where I was with the dog frozen and staring at me with concerned puppy-dog eyes. "You alright, Lilli?" The redhead asked, pulling me to my feet and scanning my body with a quick flick of his eyes.

"Fine," I snarled, stepping out of his grip and pushing my black curls out of my face in frustration. I hated being weak and making a fool of myself, it only made it worse that Castiel was the one who saw.

I started to walk away with Demon and it soon became obvious that I'd hurt my scraped my knee up pretty bad on the pavement. "You're not fine, Princess," Castiel growled, grabbing my upper arm to stop me from limping away any further.

"Yes I am," I hissed in resolve. Castiel just sighed indignantly and picked me up in one swift motion. "Put me down, pervert!" I yelled, glaring at him angrily.

To my increasing frustration, Castiel didn't even bother looking at me as I struggled in his arms. In fact he only made eye contact with me again once he'd dropped me down onto the closest bench and was kneeling in front of me. "You're a jerk," I spat, adjusting the straps of my denim overalls and pulling down the neck of the black shirt I was wearing underneath, again.

"Shut up," Castiel murmured as he dug through his jacket pockets and brought out a Band-Aid. With more care than I could've thought the rebel would ever show any one person, Castiel stuck the Band-Aid tenderly on my knee and then looked up at me again.

In the bluish hue of the darkening sky, Castiel's smoldering eyes were looking brighter and less harsh than normal. They reminded me of the smoke after a fire had long since been extinguished, rather than the plumes that floated above the flames while they were still roaring lively and licking at every thing that came into their path._ Like a drug testing facility._

I only became aware that we'd both been silent for a few minutes when I heard Demon growl beside us, obviously he was bored. Mentally shaking myself out of my thoughts, I blinked a few times and let the park come into focus before me again.

"Thanks," I whispered, exactly why I was whispering I had no idea.

"You're welcome," Castiel replied, running a hand through his hair sheepishly as he stared up at me unblinkingly.

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**A/N: Sorry it's been a little while since I last updated; life has been hectic! This is another double upload though and I will be able to spend a lot more time writing and persuading you all to love me as much as I love everyone who reads and reviews, haha. Enjoy chapter fifteen!**


	15. Tug-Of-War

**Chapter Fifteen: Tug-Of-War**

The aura between us seemed different since that gentle moment and as we started walking along the path again, I knew something had changed. I kept looking straight ahead of us, but even in the half-light I could see that Castiel kept glancing down at me. It scared me that I didn't want to snap at him about it.

As we rounded another bend in the trail a strong gust came hurtling towards us, sending our hair whipping around us ferociously. "Darn it's cold," I muttered, wrapping my arms around my middle in a pathetic attempt to warm up. Before Castiel had the opportunity to knock me out of my comfort zone by acting nice again, I snapped my eyes up to him and held out my hands.

"Jacket. Now," I demanded in a playful tone.

"Why should I?" Castiel retorted, a genuine smile dancing at the corners of his lips.

"Just hand it over, Red," I chuckled as I reached out for the leather jacket he was wearing and trying to remove it from him.

"For a princess, you've got no manners," he teased, helping me get the item off of him. He watched in amusement as I snaked my arms into the wide sleeves and zipped up the front as high as it could go. Effectively it now looked as though I was wearing nothing but the large black leather jacket and my black shin-high boots, but I had no shame.

It amazed me just how much difference Castiel's jacket made and how quickly I warmed up again when we'd continued walking. Despite the fact that I wasn't shivering, it wasn't long before I felt something drape across my shoulders. Curiously, I looked to the side and saw it was an arm; Castiel's arm.

Taken aback, I glanced up at the tall boy with one of my brows cocked. "You right there, Red?" I smirked, although I was starting to feel that uneasy sensation of companionship bubbling in my chest again.

"Thought you were cold," Castiel shrugged, not removing his arm from around my shoulders. In all honesty I didn't want to fight with him, especially when it looked as though he was warming up to me, so I stared ahead once again and kept my pace steady.

The sky was pitch black when we arrived at the foot of our driveway again. "That was fun, thanks, Demon," I said, bending down and kissing the dog on the head again. I straightened up and smirked at Castiel before turning away and heading towards my front door.

"Hey, Princess," Castiel said, making me turn around. The devious grin he gave me made dozens of thoughts and scenarios shoot through my brain like a stray bullet. _Is he going to kiss me again? Would I hit him? Why is he walking towards me? Why do I care? Are my palms sweating?_

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I felt a large hand reach for my chest and I jumped back in surprise. "The hell, Castiel?!" I said, clutching my bust like I'd been violated.

"You're wearing my jacket," he replied with a smug snicker, rolling his eyes in a know-it-all fashion.

At that moment I was extraordinarily pleased that it was so dark because I could feel my cheeks burning bright red. With an exaggerated sigh, I unzipped the jacket and sauntered up to the leering redhead. "Here," I said simply.

"About time," he grinned.

I wanted to do something to wipe that arrogant look of his face and make him act in the same strange way I'd found myself acting during that afternoon. In my usual nature, I acted on my first impulse without letting my thoughts stop me. So with one confident step I brought my body as close to his as I could and leant up, placing my lips firmly onto his.

This kiss lasted a bit longer than our first one and it ended a lot nicer. "Welcome," I whispered in a playful tone as I pulled away from him and spun on my heel. I could've sworn I heard Castiel try to stammer out a quip of some sort, but I didn't stop walking until I was safely inside my house again and leaning up against the closed door.

I knew my parents were going to be home late, it was their date night, so I headed straight for my bedroom. The cold night air was floating through the open window so I slammed it shut and drew the curtains in the hopes that my room would warm up quickly. As the curtains were shut anyway, I also stripped out of my clothes and wriggled my way into black skinny jeans and a white turtleneck, leaving my socks on my feet.

Feeling warm and oddly content, I wandered back downstairs and flopped on the couch to watch some television. After I'd managed to comfortable against the many cushions, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I opened it up to see a text from Violette flashing on the screen.

**Lilli, I just had to say thank you again. You're definitely an angel, no matter how much of a demon you try to be :-) Lysander and I went to the cinemas and then he walked me home, it was perfect. We decided we're going to be boyfriend and girlfriend but we're only going to tell you and Castiel for now. I hope you're afternoon went well and you didn't kill Casiel or vice versa.**

I read over Violette's words a few times before replying, feeling happier for her every time my eyes scanned over each letter. Although, the demon comment did send my thoughts flying straight back towards the boy next-door.

**Vi's got a boyfriend! Don't worry my lips are sealed, besides who would I be able to tell ;-) Sounds like we both kicked a goal today; you got your dream man and I didn't become part of a murder investigation haha. I'm so happy for you, tell me all about it on Monday! xo**


	16. Stumbling In The Dark

**Chapter Sixteen: Stumbling In The Dark**

My first weekend at Sweet Amoris passed as quickly as they did in my old town and before I knew it, it was Monday again. However, although I'd never scream it from the rooftops, I was actually looking forward to going back to school. In the one week I'd been at Sweet Amoris High it had really grown on me, much like my feelings towards Castiel.

I woke up on Monday morning in a cold sweat, scanning the room in case I'd left the window open or something because I'd had a dream about my redheaded neighbour. It made my skin crawl to recall just how happy dream-Lilli was to be encased in dream-Castiel's warm embrace, their eyes smiling and their lips dancing against each other. Terrifying. And yet, intriguing.

The fact that I hadn't had a dream like that about anyone since Jason had selflessly lied to the police to get me out of jail, made it painfully obvious that Castiel was getting to me. My only comfort was that I had the feeling I was getting to him as well, so things were still even. I kept thinking about Castiel the whole time I got ready for school and I even contemplated waiting for him so we could walk there together but I couldn't be bothered to wait in the cold, so I went alone.

My cheeks and nose were tomato red by the time I walked into the main hallway and shuffled over to my locker, trying to open up the lock while I still had my woolen gloves on but that proved to be impossible. Over the weekend the temperature had dropped significantly and there was no doubt that a harsh winter was quickly approaching us. I, like Violette, loved winter! The clothes, the fires, the mugs of hot chocolate and coffee, and the snow; I actually couldn't think of anything I didn't like about winter.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts about warm winter clothing and childish snowball fights that I didn't realise someone was approaching me until my back was slammed up against the locker next to mine. Amber's nails dug into my covered shoulders as she glared down at me, forced authority shining in her jade eyes.

"We didn't get to finish _talking _on Friday, Lilli," the blonde spat.

I was so disinterested and unthreatened by this girl and her two cronies lurking in my peripheral vision that my thoughts were mostly fixated on the way that no one seemed to care that the new girl was getting shoved against metal lockers. It was obvious that the majority of the school feared Amber.

"That's because you ran away, Amber," I said simply as my expression remained stoic and albeit a little bored.

"Ran away?!" She said, raising her voice and digging her talons into me harder, I could've sworn she was trying to ruin my jumper.

"Well you weren't exactly taking your time."

I wasn't surprised that she didn't reply to that and I clenched my fist, ready to return fire when she hit me. Whatever plans I had of being quiet and unnoticed were fading every time I entered that school and fighting Amber and hanging out with Castiel, weren't helping to keep the odds in my favour either. As long as I had Violette as a friend though, I couldn't care less about what anyone thought; whether it was indifference, awe, or the all too familiar fear and resentment.

Time seemed to slow down as I watched Amber's hand raise up and then start descending towards my left cheek, and I just stood there waiting. In a way I was sort of grateful for the amount of fights I'd been in because after a while I stopped closing my eyes every time I got hit, this meant that I got to witness the funniest sight in the world; Amber going bright red and actually stammering! Just as she was about to slap me, Castiel had appeared out of thin air and caught her hand. With incredible momentum Amber had been pulled around and ripped away from me, her eyes growing wider by the millisecond.

"You're not bothering my girlfriend are you, Barbie?" Castiel said calmly, his eyes burning into the blonde's surprised face.

"Girlfriend?" Amber screeched after a momentary pause, stepping away from him as if she'd been burned by something hot.

Neither Castiel nor I said anything, but just watched with mirth as Amber stared at the two of us. It was Li and Charlotte that eventually ushered their leader away from the scene before she lost whatever scrap of dignity she still had.

When the three girls had escaped into the courtyard, I turned my head to look up at Castiel. To my annoyance, he was sifting through my open locker.

"Hey! Get out of there!" I pushed him away by the shoulder and stepped in front of my locker protectively.

"I was just looking for a smoke," Castiel snickered, stepping up and leaning against the locker where I'd been pinned only seconds earlier.

"I don't have any with me," I said with a roll of my eyes. I grabbed the books I needed for our first class and then shut the metal door, clicking the lock into place. "Are you gonna come to class?" I asked teasingly when I realised that he didn't have any books with him and the bell was just about to go.

"No," Castiel replied, turning away from me and walking to the end of the hallway while he simultaneously grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. "You aren't either," he stated gruffly as we continued to push through the sea of students to wherever it was that Castiel had in mind.

"Oh no, I'm _not _skipping," I growled, trying to pull my wrist free from his grip whilst not dropping the books I had clasped in my other arm.

"Yes you are," he laughed. Without warning me first he started to climb the stairs that led to the second level, causing me to almost trip over and fall on top of him. I was still trying to detach myself from him when we came to the end of the second level and stopped in front of a locked door.

"Where are you taking me, Red?" I asked, feeling like a kid being dragged along to the grocery store. Castiel didn't reply, instead he reached into his jeans' pocket and brought out a set of keys. Obviously he'd done this many times because in the blink of an eye he'd picked the right key, unlocked the door and was pulling me up another flight of stairs, we let the door slam shut behind us again.

The staircase was dark and I had no doubt in my mind that we weren't supposed to be there, but I'd stopped struggling and just followed obediently as my natural curiosity bubbled in my chest. In the dark I heard Castiel selecting another key from the ring and open up another door straight ahead of us at the end of the stairs. When the door swung open I thought I'd been blinded by the bright light that poured out over us.

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**A/N: Not even sorry for the quick update; dropping out of university has given me a lot more time to write and I'm making the most of it! Hope you enjoyed, keeping the short word count for each chapter is getting harder and harder so I have a feeling there's going to be quite a few updates to come sooner rather than later ;) xo**


	17. Warming Up

**Chapter Seventeen: Warming Up**

Once my eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight and I saw just where Castiel had dragged me to, my breath caught in my throat. Stretching out in front of me was the school's roof and beyond that was the whole of Sweet Amoris. If I ever needed inspiration that wasn't drawn from my interpersonal experiences, I knew I'd be able to gain a lot by just standing on that rooftop for a few minutes.

The morning chill and pastel sky melted together to create the ideal spot for any artist, while also cleaning my head clear of any unwanted thoughts. It was magical. My feet pulled me towards the railing and I let my whole weight fall upon the wrought iron bars while I continued to forge every detail I could into my memory.

"Are you high or something?" Castiel said from behind me.

I turned my body slowly so I was facing him, my back up against the railing and my eyes latched onto him in a playful glare. "Was that sarcasm?" I said, mirroring the same smirk that was plastered across his lightly tanned skin.

"Was that rhetorical?"

My lips parted into an appreciative smile and I walked over to sit beside him. "Those are the President's infamous lost keys, aren't they?" I grinned deviously, nodding towards his pocket where the keys were hiding from my sight. When I first arrived at the school I'd heard that Nathaniel's keys had gone missing at the end of the previous year so he'd had to get new copies over the summer break, and I'd bet anything that the two sets of keys were the same ones.

"What are you, a detective?"

"Just call me 'Sherlock'."

"You gonna tell on me, Sherlock?" Castiel's grin was growing wider and more mischievous with every word, and I just sat there trying to keep a straight face.

"You never know."

Castiel rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest, as he leant back against the wall and breathed in deeply. I placed my books on the ground beside me and then checked if Amber's nails had ruined the knitting of my woolen jumper, thankfully they hadn't. Although the exposed roof was cold, I was nice and warm because of my thick black jumper, navy thermal leggings and usual black boots. Castiel, on the other hand, hadn't dressed according to the dramatic shift of the weather so he was looking more and more ticked off as the cold seeped through his jeans and crept under his leather jacket and thin t-shirt.

With an aggravated sigh, the tall guy rummaged through his pockets until he pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. "I thought you didn't have any cigarettes," I said coyly as I watched him light one of them and then stuff the packet back where it belonged.

"You caught me, I was just planting a bomb in your locker," he replied, his deep voice steady and dripping with sarcasm. He breathed in the smoke wantonly and sighed in relief as the warmth flooded his body. I knew the feeling of release and ease far too well but I was trying to not fold into the temptation presenting itself to me, again. Castiel obviously couldn't care less about self-restraint or empathy because he practically shoved the cigarette against my lips.

I really couldn't muster the motive to turn it down so I silently accepted, took a drag and then passed it back to him. "Feeling warmer?" I snickered.

"Yes," he replied. Although he said it gruffly, I could tell that it wasn't out of rudeness but actually embarrassment, and I loved it!

"Should've warn something warmer," I taunted, pulling my long sleeves over my hands to emphasise my point. Castiel mumbled something I couldn't hear, so I leant over a bit closer. "Come again?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow. The response I got was a glare and then one arm flinging over my shoulders and jerking my body closer to the redhead's. "Do you mind!?" I laughed indignantly, pushing at his side futilely.

"No," Castiel chuckled, tightening his hold of me until I stopped and just slumped against him. "Much better," he said while he puffed out another cloud of toxic smoke.

"Oh, Castiel, I didn't know you were a romantic. You should've just said something if you wanted to cuddle me," I teased, angling my head away from his chest.

"You wish. The only thing you've got going for you is that you're warm," Castiel snorted, sending the vibrations from his deep voice straight to my body.

Instead of replying with a quip of my own, I opted to just snuggle into him further. If he wanted to get under my skin, well I'd show him that I could give it as well as I could take it. To my joy, Castiel did tense up at my actions, but then he relaxed and acted as if nothing had happened! _Well that was anti-climactic._

"Why'd you drag me up here?" I asked abruptly, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears after the long silence that had passed.

"I felt like it."

"Why?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because you obviously do."

That just seemed to be how we talked, back and forth without much thought and practically no reserve, it was refreshing to have someone like that around. However, there was something different about the brooding redhead while we sat there starring challengingly at each other, something that I could see ticking over behind those stirring grey irises.

"You've done stupid shit and I've done stupid shit, happy now?" He muttered darkly.

"You're not," I stated assertively, narrowing my eyes as if to challenge him. By the way his expression hardened before being overtaken by a strange appearance of calm, I could tell that he was taken aback but he knew deep down that I was right. While we spent the rest of the morning classes sitting on the roof in an easy silence I knew one thing for certain: I was definitely warmer with him around.

* * *

**A/N: Ok this super quick update is not an indicator that I have no life, I just got bitten by the creativity bug! Okay?! Anyways, as always I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Drama is arising in the next two chapters and Calilli are gonna feel the trouble.**


	18. An Expected Engagement

**Chapter Eighteen: An Expected Engagement**

For a small town and an equally minute high school, Sweet Amoris really didn't take 'rebellious teens' lightly. As usual I was eating lunch with Violette in the school gardens, catching each other up on our lives and complaining about Amber, when the principal came hurtling towards me like a hurricane.

Apparently the size of the school meant that nothing went under the grey-haired lady's notice and I was given an afterschool detention because of my little skip with Castiel. I was actually impressed by how assertive and somewhat scary that woman could be when she wanted to.

Violette didn't unfreeze from her state of temporary catatonia until it was just the two of us again. "I've never seen her that angry up close before," she muttered, her grey eyes darting around us as though the principal would appear again at any moment.

"Sorry, Vi. You're not angry at me, are you?" I said as guilt shot through me.

"W-What? No, not at all!" Violette responded, quickly placing a frail hand on my shoulder. "Honestly, I'm not surprised that you'd skip class; you're headstrong. But I think I know you well enough to say that I know you don't do things without thinking and I know you're always thinking about others!"

I drank in the shy girl's words eagerly, feeling more and more like we had one of those rare friendships that started perfectly and only got better. "You're brilliant," I smiled, pulling her against me in a friendly one-armed hug.

The rest of the day flew by, especially art class. Just like the previous week, Violette, Lysander, Castiel and myself shared the back table, much to my hidden delight. The new couple spent most of the lesson sharing fleeting glances that could've warmed even the most shielded hearts, while Castiel and I went for the more aggressive approach. Every time I'd glance up at Castiel, he'd mirror my actions and give me one of his challenging looks and I'd shoot back a good-natured glare, we kept it up for the whole hour.

Lysander was one of those special people who just always seemed two steps ahead of everyone else, so what he said at the end of class wasn't really unexpected. "Violette, seeing as our two friends here have an _engagement _together, would you like to walk home together?" He asked as we walked out of the studio and back towards the main building.

It hadn't occurred to me until that point, but of course Castiel would be in detention with me! I glanced over at Violette, silently encouraging her to take up her boyfriend's offer. "Y-Yes, that would be great, thank you Lysander," the purple-haired girl murmured with a radiant smile.

I was so happy for my friend and I gave her a warm hug before she set of hand-in-hand with her Victorian sweetheart. When I turned back around, I realised that Castiel and I were alone. "Come on, let's get this over with," I said, heading into the main building and then taking the first left and walking into the detention room.

Detention was pretty standard but still easily stricter than what I'd experienced at my old school. Twelve students, including Castiel and me, sat at individual desks and were forced to complete a mundane comprehension task about the importance of honesty, credibility and morality. It was torture. Add that to the fact that the principal was peering over everyone's shoulders and I could see why no one but Castiel made a return visit.

The hour crept by in agonizingly slow milliseconds, but eventually the bell rang out and I was able to make my escape out into the cold expanse beyond the school grounds. Castiel and I didn't plan on walking together but it just happened, logically it made sense seeing as we were neighbours.

"I call her the 'Old Bat'," Castiel sneered when I made a quip about the principal resembling a witch.

"How about Old Hag?"

"Grey Hag?"

"Grey Witch!"

"Deal," he laughed, shaking my hand in exaggerated agreement.

I couldn't stop smiling as we continued walking, which really made no sense. To any onlookers I probably looked insane; a girl who just had detention after only being at the school for a week, walking in the cold with the town's rebel by her side, and looking like a kid in a sweetshop. But I was happy.

"Are your parents gonna be mad?" Said rebel asked, coming to stop at the end of our driveway as he peered up at my house.

I shook my head with a devious grin. "No, they trust that I'm really a good person and that trouble just finds me," I answered.

"Lucky," Castiel smirked. Without saying another word, he turned around and strolled into his house while I stood there watching him. _Probably the nicest goodbye we've had_. I thought indifferently.

When I opened up my front door the first thing I saw were my parents sitting on the couch and talking quietly. Their heads snapped up at the sound of the heavy door clicking shut, their faces contorted with millions of hidden thoughts.

"Is everything OK-" I was cut off by the force of my mum's entire weight being squeezed around me as she hugged me in the way I imagined you would when you hadn't seen someone in years.

"What happened?" I wheezed, returning Mum's hug as the worst possible scenarios collided against each other in my apprehensive mind.

"We got a visit," Mum started.

"From the police," Dad finished.

If I hadn't been so focused on the way my blood literally ran cold and the clamy sensation that took over my hands and feet, then I might have made a comment about how sweet it was that my parents finished each other's sentences, but I couldn't utter a single word out of my dry mouth. The police; we hadn't had a visit from the police since the investigation about the vigil-anti group, well they said 'vigil-anti' but I maintained that 'protest' or 'pro-equal rights' were more appropriate.

My parents hadn't acted that way since that investigation either and what made me think that that case had ever finished, well that answer was easy; nothing.

* * *

**A/N: It is my absolute pleasure to do another shout-out to two ****beautiful girls who have been supporting this story non-stop: Exactlyamanda and xXJuuLXx  
**

**And thank you to everyone else who is reading and enjoying and giving me the incentive to keep writing this! Stay tuned as things continue to heat up, and probably not in the way you all want ;) *evil laugh***


	19. Burning The Peace

**Chapter Nineteen: Burning The Peace**

Sometimes it's easy to forget just how effortlessly someone can find out everything official about you, given that they have the correct username and password. After I had been briefly arrested for being suspected as part of the smaller inner-circle of Jason Mare's protest group who had burned down the _ForTomorrow_ Medical Progress Centre, I'd acquired a criminal record. At the time it had bothered me, but after moving towns I somehow thought that I had a clean slate. Obviously that was just the result of my fear, anger, guilt, and childish hope.

What I'd never really given much thought to, was how much one's criminal record and permanent school record overlapped. As it turned out, the police had yet to stop the investigation into the fire and they were still trying to round up as many culprits as possible, and my name was on the top of the list.

When the principal at Sweet Amoris had innocently entered my detention into the school's database and put another little mark on my permanent record, she had no idea that it would spark an alarm on some cop's desktop and result in my parents getting a house call. Talk about the chain of events. What I could never get my head around, when my parents and I were talking about anything and everything that was going through our minds about the situation, was just how caring my mum and dad were.

Not once in my life had I gotten in trouble at home for no reason. Never had I been hit or yelled at for something trivial. If I ever needed anything, within reason, then both my parents were there with a smile and open arms. I loved them with all my heart and this was how I repaid them; I felt dirty.

The whole time we talked, I had one arm around my mum while my dad clasped my other hand. I could feel their love and patience swimming around me and it brought hot tears stinging out of my golden eyes. "I'm sorry," I rasped pitifully.

"Don't apologise," Dad demanded, pulling me into his brawny arms and resting his chin on top of my head.

"You never need to be sorry for having opinions, we've always told you that, Pumpkin," Mum whispered as she reached out and played with my black curls. "We know things are bad, but at least it's because you stood up for something and because you care." She kissed my cheek as Dad pushed me away gently. I hadn't cried since the night of the fire and it was almost as if the smoke was still caught in my body because the tears stung as badly as the noxious plumes.

Although I knew that the police still wouldn't get anything out of Jason or the rest of the protest group back in my old town, I still went to bed feeling lost and helpless and I resented it. If the authorities were trying to scare me into confession, they were just doing the opposite because my inner-protestor was becoming more and more definite.

My body felt heavy as I slumped down onto my bed. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of clean sheets and old posters. It was a good ten minutes before I moved again.

"You alive, Princess?" I heard a deep voice ask.

I jolted up into a sitting position, my eyes automatically focusing out of my window and on the redhead leaning out of the house opposite mine. "Barely," I replied huskily before I could stop myself.

Castiel's eyebrows shot up and he gave me a dispirited look. "Who crapped in your cornflakes?" He said darkly, his tone trying to cover up the concern I could see flickering in his eyes even from my bed.

"The police," I said in a much quieter voice. Quieter, yes, but with more anger, more venom, and more anguish.

This blew Castiel's act right out of him and he leant further out of his window, even placing a hand on the large tree that stood between our houses. "Are you kidding?" He asked, a similar bite in his rumbling voice.

"No," I barked. I flinched at my response and groaned, flinging myself back down on my bed and staring up at my ceiling. "I'm sorry," I whispered to no one and nothing in particular. _Probably just the universe._

"Don't be," Castiel said from beside me. _Beside me?! _I shot up again and stared at the boy perched on the side of my bed.

"The hell?!" I said, chuckling through my initial anger and surprise.

"You looked like you needed someone," Castiel snickered. I narrowed my eyes at him and then quickly looked out the window, it appeared that he'd used the tree to help himself through my open window. Clever guy.

"Thanks," I said simply, shifting myself so I was leaning up against him like I had that morning on the roof.

"So…was it about that fire?" Castiel asked after a heavy pause.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine."

Another pause followed, in which time I felt Castiel's heart rate increase as I continued to press into his chest. "You're not the only one who's had run-ins with the cops, you know," he finally ground out.

"I know," I said, rolling my eyes at his generic way of comforting me.

"No, you don't," he said with more urgency. I angled myself away from him a little and regarded him with interest, my eyes begging him to continue.

Castiel sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What, you never thought that maybe I'd have a criminal record or something?" No matter how sarcastic he was trying to act, it was far more forced than usual and I could practically see his sincere self, trying to barge out of him.

"No, I've thought about it," I smiled warmly, my eyes never leaving his as he contemplated his next response.

"Well you're just a know-it-all then, aren't you," he said, his words nowhere near as harsh as he probably intended them to be.

"Yes, I am. I'm a know-it-all and _you know_ what, Castiel, I know way too much," I mumbled. Despite my best efforts, I could feel the air in the room grow more comfortable and I was feeling more vulnerable with every second, and before I could stop myself I fell forward in tears, burying my face against the boy's neck and holding him like a friend.


	20. Drawing Tighter

**Chapter Twenty: Drawing Tighter**

Castiel and I sat in a close embrace for a good ten minutes as I slowly began to run out of tears. Any dignity I had had long since fallen into the leather jacket that was dotted with teardrops, so I was relieved when he didn't have a go at me because I knew I wouldn't be able to respond.

"I haven't cried in ages," I mumbled against his shoulder, feeling way too tired to move.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Castiel muttered so quietly that I wasn't sure whether he meant me to hear him or not.

"Thanks for coming over," I whispered as I tried to finally push myself off of him.

"Don't mention it," he said in a low tone with underlined care.

The more I attempted to separate our bodies, the tighter he kept his arms clasped around me. I couldn't tell whether he was doing it because he might have cared about what was bothering me, or because he was trying to get my fighting spirit to raise its head again. Just as I was coming to the conclusion that it was the latter, Castiel spoke again.

"I didn't have anyone around when the cops came after me," he whispered. I froze and darted my eyes to the sides to the sides to try to see his face, but we were too close. My breathing became quieter as I waited for him to continue, ready to latch onto any piece of himself that he would give me.

"You know I'm angry, you've seen it and you know what it's like, Lilli. Everyone either gets scared, _sympathetic_ or angry when I do something, but I can't help it," he said, his voice getting stronger with each word and his palms beginning to sweat through my jumper. "I don't want people to react, I just want to do something. Every time I get mad or think about my parents, I just want to do _something._"

The warm bursts of his breath stopped hitting my exposed neck and I knew that he'd looked away, probably trying not to start crying as well. It was just that sort of night. I let my hands wander over his slightly muscled arms above his worn black jacket, reveling in the feeling of the softened leather under my fingertips and imagining myself designing pants and skirts out of a similar hide.

"I draw things, actually I draw clothes," I admitted after the air seemed to lighten a little around us.

"What?"

"That's my something; I design things."

"I can't draw."

"You can play the guitar though."

Finally, Castiel pulled away from me and our eyes clashed together with a soft ferociousness. It took me a moment of battling my teenage impulses to not grab onto him again or complain about the loss of warmth now that my body was alone again.

"How do you know that?" He asked, narrowing his eyes in an accusing manner. It was almost as though he was scared that I'd found out through another person, rather than seeing it myself because his eyes flicked around us in paranoia.

I quirked a thin eyebrow and pointed towards the window. "No privacy in this town," I said simply. The hidden meaning obviously didn't escape his notice because he pursed his lips tightly before shaking his head and forcing an amused look onto his handsome face. _That's right: 'handsome'._

"You are such a creeper," he chuckled teasingly.

"And you can play the guitar," I replied with a playful smirk pulling at the corners of my lips.

"And you've been crying," he said as he placed a large hand on my cheek and wiped the tear tracks from my skin.

"And I like Winged Skull." That caught his attention; his hand stayed resting on my cheek as his eyes scanned my room for some sort of proof. There were several band posters, including the one I had signed the last time I'd been to see them in concert, to back up my claim and when our eyes met again, I could tell he was impressed.

"Why am I not surprised," he sneered light-heartedly.

I just shrugged in fake innocence and shifted away from him a little, his hand falling back to his side. "Five bucks says that I can guess your favourite song by them in one try," I said smugly as I slid off the bed and strolled over to my CD collection. Although I had actually bought all of Winged Skull's albums on iTunes, I also bought the physical CDs because of the cover-art and for sentimental reasons.

"You're on," Castiel snickered. He wriggled up further on my bed and rested against the headboard, folding his arms behind his head and watching my with a scrutinizing smirk.

I pulled out all of the albums and quickly scanned over all of the song lists, just to refresh my memory. As soon as I saw the song I had in mind, I became even more certain that it was the right one; after all, it was my favourite as well. I took out the disk that the song was on and popped it into my CD player, skipping to track number two.

Castiel's eyes went wide when 'Falling Embers' starting floating through my stereo. I grinned at him and plopped myself down next to him on the soft mattress. "Pay up, Castiel," I commanded, nudging his shoulder self-righteously.

"No fair, you probably snuck into my room and figured it out somehow," he scoffed indignantly.

"Or maybe I know you," I taunted, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning forward a little.

"Whatever, I don't have any money anyway." His eyes were drilling into mine, but the intensity didn't hurt at all. In all honesty, I was finding it harder and harder to look away from the looming guy beside me.

"Okay then, you can just play me a song instead," I shrugged, looking away coyly.

"Fine."

I whirled back around to look at Castiel, almost certain that I'd heard him wrong. "Seriously?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously. The redhead just shrugged in agreement and smirked at me in victory; then he stood up and headed back towards the window.

"If you convince the two lovebirds to have lunch together, then I'll play in front of all three of you. Lysander has some new lyrics he wants to test out anyway and I think they're some sappy love song about Violette," Castiel said nonchalantly, winking at me before he maneuvered his way into the dark night.


	21. Sweet Disgust

**Chapter Twenty-One: Sweet Disgust**

I could barely keep my eyes open while Violette and I waited for the two boys at lunch the following day. After crying the night before, I thought I'd also be able to sleep like a baby, but that wasn't what happened. In the middle of the night my dreams melted into nightmares and I spent hours tossing and turning, twisting up in my bed sheets and feeling like I was drowning. It was awful.

However the worst part wasn't my sleep deprivation, but rather the nightmares themselves. Even in broad daylight and seated next to Violette, who was gushing quietly about Lysander, I still shivered at the memory. In the haziness of my drowsy mind, I could recall the piercing images of Jason, Mum, Dad and Castiel all yelling at me for being a coward and tossing me back into that burning building as punishment.

"Lilli?" Violette's sweet voice cut through my thoughts and I whirled my head to the side to look at her. "Are you alright, you're shaking?"

I looked down at my hands to see for myself that they were twitching erratically, almost in sync with my escalated heartbeat. Closing my eyes, I ran my hands through my hair and let out a heavy breath in an attempt to calm myself down.

"Yeah," I replied as I opened my eyes and smiled at her affectionately, "I just had a really bad night. Nightmares."

Violette nodded and placed her hand on top of mine, saying something about how she used to get nightmares all the time as a kid but then her parents bought her a stuffed animal. "It's sort of habit now, I can't get to sleep without it! At least they're peaceful dreams though," she giggled, finishing her story with a rosy blush speckled across her cheeks.

Apparently the universe had decided to be a little nicer to me because Castiel and Lysander chose that moment to round the corner into the school gardens. Violette's lips parted in a radiant smile as soon as she spotted the Victorian-styled boy and she waved at him sweetly.

"Hello," Lysander chuckled, leaning down to kiss the top of Violette's head gently. The purple-haired girl just blushed in response and looked down at the ground like the innocent schoolgirl she was.

"Don't think you're gonna get a kiss," Castiel snickered at me as he set down the guitar case he'd been carrying.

"Wouldn't dream of it," I sneered playfully. I watched Castiel sit on the ground cross-legged and take hold of the black acoustic guitar he'd brought. He looked so at home with the instrument in his arms, his red hair gently falling forward and obscuring his eyes while his mouth was still in view and displaying a soft smile.

Lysander sat beside Castiel, with his notebook opened up at a page that had a lot of scribbles and corrections scribbled across it. "I wrote this song for you, Violette. I hope it's not too generic," he smiled.

The next three minutes crawled by slowly, not that I was complaining. Lysander's voice was deep and smooth and I knew that every word sunk deep into Violette's very core in a way that only those two could manage. To be honest though, most of the time my attention was glued to Castiel. The boy was a natural, his fingers moved effortlessly along the strings to produce a sweet and almost sorrowful melody that floated around the gardens beautifully.

I'd never thought of Castiel as someone who would play such a sappy love song, but then again he was doing it for Lysander. I smiled when the song came to an end, thinking about how the last few minutes were a testimony to just how selfless the rebel could be. There was definitely a soft heart beating underneath that jagged exterior.

"What did you think?" Lysander cooed, standing up and smiling at Violette as he did so.

"It was incredible, you two are both amazing," I said when Violette just grinned up at him mutely, apparently completely lost for words.

"I know," Castiel said smugly.

"No you don't," I replied coyly, smirking at him. The redhead looked at me curiously as he put his precious guitar back in its case, but he didn't say anything.

"Was that really about me?" I heard my purple-haired friend whisper. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her standing and peering up at Lysander underneath her long lashes while he cradled her chin gently. The two of them were such cliché romantics; I was uncontrollably happy for them.

"Yuck," Castiel chuckled, his own voice low and sultry as he spoke directly into my ear.

I flicked my eyes to the side and was slightly surprised to see two grey orbs starring back at me, much closer than I'd anticipated. _Lucky I didn't turn my whole head then. _"The word you're looking for is 'sweet'," I whispered back.

"No, 'yuck' works just fine," he replied. He narrowed his eyes at me challengingly, which I returned with vigor.

"You two alright over there?" Lysander teased, indicating that the couple beside us had stopped their sweet exchange.

"Fine!" I replied all too eagerly, taking a step back from the tall rebel and smiling innocently.

"Smooth," Castiel sneered with a roll of his eyes.

I cringed at my own reaction and looked over at Violette embarrassedly. The beautiful girl just shrugged at me and rested her hand on my shoulder as her way of telling me to forget about it. "Let's go to class," she said, turning to look at Lysander confidently. That boy definitely brought out the best in her.

Lysander agreed and the four of us headed into the main building just before the bell went, signaling the end of lunch. "What do you have now?" I asked as I got my books out of my locker.

"We both have English," Violette responded from behind me, her locker was directly opposite mine and beside Lysander's. I knew she was referring to Lysander by the way her voice carried a little more certainty and it made me smile to myself. "How about you, Liili?" She asked as I heard her locker door close with the distinctive click.

"Princess and I've got Geography." I closed my locker and looked up at Castiel with raised eyebrows. _I didn't even see him standing there._

"You're not going to skip?" I teased.

"I don't feel like getting another detention, so sue me," he retorted, nudging my arm playfully as I went to pass him.

Violette gave me a knowing smile as she hugged me and then headed off in the opposite direction, Lysander gliding along beside her and carrying her books like a gentleman. "Come on then," I grinned at Castiel, making sure to swing my hips as we walked to class.

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**A/N: Hey! So I actually sat down before I wrote this chapter and planned out what's going to happen in the rest of the story; no more just winging it as I go! So I can say that there should be about thirty chapters in total, which means that we've entered the final third of _Trouble Always Finds Me _(TAFM). Hope you enjoyed and please tell me what you thought! xo**


	22. A Game Of Cat And Mouse

**Chapter Twenty-Two: A Game Of Cat And Mouse**

Castiel and I sat in the back row of our Geography class, ignoring the confused glances from our peers. Apparently I'd underestimated just how uncommon it was for the redhead beside me to actually show up to class.

"I think you've got a reputation," I giggled in a whisper, pointing at the front row where a brunette girl, named Melody, kept turning around and sneaking a look at the two of us.

"Be careful or you will too," he teased back.

I glared at him indignantly and rolled my eyes. Castiel just shrugged and leant back on the hind legs of his chair, suspended precariously above the ground. "Don't die," I muttered as I flicked through my notebook to the next page.

Just then Nathaniel walked into the room, closely followed by the teacher. "Of course Golden Boy came with the teacher," Castiel growled quietly, earning himself an elbow in the side from me.

Although it wasn't a hard push, it was enough to make Castiel temporarily lose his balance. To stop himself from falling backwards he slammed his palms on the desk, making everyone in the room jump and turn around at the loud bang.

"Castiel! Just because you turned up for once doesn't mean that you have the right to draw attention to yourself!" The teacher hollered. It amazed me how his slick silver hair staying perfectly in place even though he moved his head erratically with every syllable.

"Sorry," Castiel mumbled, glaring at me accusingly while I struggled to not smile. The teacher nodded and then turned back towards the board to begin the lesson, and I slumped onto the desk, my sides hurting from containing my laughter. My whole body was heaving with the silent snickers and it was amazing that the teacher didn't notice.

"Turn around," I heard Castiel whisper. Wiping tears of laughter from my eyes, I sat up straight and looked around us to see whom Castiel had instructed to mind their own business. My eyebrows shot up when I saw Nathaniel glaring at us from beside Melody with distaste flickering in his topaz-coloured eyes. After flicking his gaze between us a few times, the Student Body President finally turned back in his seat.

Castiel scoffed and crossed his arms, sending a heated death stare at the back of Nathaniel's head. "I don't think you can melt hot air," I said, leaning close to his ear and smirking.

"Maybe I can make it explode," he snarled. A playful smile crept across his lips and he looked at me quickly, "If we're lucky."

The devious look he gave me had my breath hitching in my throat and I had to fix my eyes on something else before a blush could find its way onto my cheeks. It sucked that Castiel could look so hot without even trying.

"As long as Melody doesn't get caught in the crossfire, I guess," I whispered after a few moments.

"You like that goody-two-shoes?"

"No, but I don't_ hate _her either," I replied, rolling my eyes up at him, "I don't hate anyone actually, but the Pres. does get on my nerves."

Although I hadn't had too much to do with Nathaniel, it seemed that he tried to have as much to do with everyone else as he could. Not a day had gone by that I hadn't seen him spending overtime in the Council Office, telling off some student, sucking up to one of the teachers, or trying to make eye contact with me when I walked through the halls. But no matter how ever-present the guy seemed to be, I hadn't heard anything about the two little encounters I'd had with his sister. Naturally, I assumed that Nathaniel hated confrontation so he was undoubtedly covering it up. Coward.

"It doesn't work, I tried, remember," Castiel sneered, resting his head on his fists and cocking an eyebrow at me.

I hadn't realised that I'd been openly glowering at Nathaniel while I'd been thinking, so I quickly looked away. "Too bad," I giggled.

Other than throwing the occasional piece of scrunched up paper at Nathaniel, Castiel and I spent the rest of the lesson actually trying to learn. However when the bell finally went, the two of us practically flew into the main hallway. I could feel the golden-haired boy's eyes on the two of us as we struggled to not push everyone else out of the way to get to the door.

"You gonna walk me home, Red?" I teased as I put my books away and grabbed my bag from my locker.

Castiel was leaning against the locker beside me, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets. "I knew you would ask, you can't go a day with out me," he snickered.

"Whatever!" I scoffed. I tried to hit him with my bag, but as I swung it he caught it and began strolling out of the school. "Hey, give it back!" I yelled after him.

As soon as Castiel was through the school's entrance, he began running. I sprinted after him with a determined smile, running as fast as I could to catch up with his long strides. Although Castiel didn't know it, I was a good runner and, to my satisfaction, I caught up with him on the next street.

"Shit!" The redhead swore as I grabbed my bag and swung him around with the momentum. Acting on reflex he yanked both his arms to his chest, which meant that I was pulled up against him because there was no way I was letting my bag go now that I was so close to victory.

Puffing, we stared at each other with cheeky smiles on our faces. "Nicely done, Princess," Castiel chuckled, letting go of my bag and stepping away from me.

"I think I deserve a reward," I said as I slung my bag over my shoulder and began walking, Castiel looming at my side.

"Oh yeah, what?" He said curiously, running his hands through his hair absentmindedly.

Forcing myself not to gawk at the way the muscles in his arms and torso bulged as he stretched, I fixed my eyes on the path ahead of us. "How about you tell me what trouble you've had with the cops?"


	23. Behind The Boy

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Behind The Boy**

Part of me wasn't surprised when Castiel didn't object to telling me more about him. In fact I got the impression that he wanted to and he'd just been waiting for me to ask.

The early-afternoon sunlight glowed around us as we walked slowly towards our houses, an event that I was beginning to find I actually looked forward to more and more. I watched Castiel with eagerness and it didn't escape my notice the way that his hair lit up with the intensity of the sunbeams, or the way his eyes weren't as hard as they were when I first met him.

"You know how I said I get angry?" He began, looking down at me expectantly. I nodded and tucked one of my curls behind my ear so I could see him better.

Castiel turned his head away from me again, nodding to himself as well. "Well it started when my parents went through a rough time, always fighting and yelling, it pissed me off. But no one told me that things would get better, so when they eventually did and my parents were happy again, I was just confused. Make sense?"

I hadn't expected him to start so far back, but I wasn't complaining. I just kept my mouth shut and nodded again, this time stepping closer to him so that our arms were brushing against each other.

"So I went through the rest of middle school doubting people, like they could explode at any moment. Then, two years ago, my parents took on new jobs with an international airline. Them leaving me alone just made me think I was right, even more. So I went from confused and disappointed to just _angry_. I started doing stupid things just to get people's attention, which I know is stupid but at least I knew that their attention wasn't fake." His voice was deeper and quieter by the time he finished, but there was something about it that made me think he was leaving something out.

I couldn't stop myself from prying just a little. "Except?" I questioned, nudging his arm with mine and smiling softly up at him.

Something flickered behind Castiel's eyes, making them harder again. He sighed and grinned to himself in what I assumed was disbelief. "Except when my ex tricked me into thinking she liked me."

"Your ex?"

"Her name's Debrah, but I'm not talking about her."

I nodded and wrapped my arm with his, earning a confused look from the tall redhead. "You still haven't told me exactly how you got into trouble with the police. Like, define 'stupid things'," I said simply.

"Fights," he sighed.

I laughed quietly, pulling myself closer to him. "I bet you always won," I said in a light, friendly tone.

Castiel looked down at me with a lopsided smile. "You're so weird," he chuckled, wrapping his arm around me as we continued to stroll up to our houses.

"See you later," I grinned, pushing his shoulder playfully and then hurrying into my house.

An unexpected wave of relief washed over my body when my worried parents didn't bombard me like they had the day before. I locked the door behind me and then sauntered upstairs to my bedroom. With a small smile on my face, I threw my bag in the corner and sat down at my desk. I was ready to do some homework, when my phone rang.

Thinking it was my mum calling, I pulled out my phone and answered without bothering to check the caller ID. "Hey, what's happening?" I asked cheerfully, putting the call on speaker and picking up my pen again.

"Nothing much," a man's voice responded, sounding rather confused. It would be a pretty severe understatement to say that I wasn't surprised as well. In a frenzy, I picked up my phone and looked at the caller ID but the number wasn't saved in my phone.

"Who's this?" I demanded, putting the phone to my ear because I'd forgotten it was on speaker.

"It's Jason." I jumped at the volume and quickly put it back to normal, I didn't want anyone hearing this conversation.

"H-Hey," I said, feeling strangely nervous. I wasn't a nervous kind of person but it always happened with my ex, he just had that affect on me. "How're you?"

"Surviving," Jason chuckled, the noise sending a shiver up my spine.

"That's good."

"What about you?"

"I love Sweet Amoris."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's actually really nice. I've made some friends, proper friends," I said with a giggle, I knew that he'd always hated the way I didn't get along with anyone at my old school. When I was being segregated by the rest of my year level for having morals and not wanting to sleep around, Jason had invited me to join his protest group and he'd been pretty protective of me since then; always asking about who my friends were and what was happening in my life. We hadn't spoken since he'd been arrested and I'd moved towns, though.

"At least one of us is doing well," he muttered through my mobile.

I felt a pang of guilt ricochet through me. It was weird but as soon as Jason was out of my sight, I'd almost completely forgotten about him; I hadn't even mourned over our break up or the fact that he was in jail. Sure I felt guilty but other than the dream I'd had the night before, he hadn't really crossed my mind. I was feeling worse and worse as I analysed my thoughts. _Is it wrong that I'm actually enjoying myself here?_

"I-I'm sorry, Jason, I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry, Angel. I'm happy for you," Jason murmured in that way that made my heart speed up. "In fact, that's why I called. The investigation's been reopened and the cops are convinced that you were a big part of it."

The fast beating of my heart turned into a painful frenzy of jabs against my ribcage. "T-They came past yesterday afternoon," I said, feeling more tears begin to sting my eyes.

"Look I have to go, but don't worry I won't let anything happen to you. I'd do anything for you, Lilli, we all would. We're happy to take the fall," Jason said quickly, and then all I heard was the tone. I sat there for a few moments, feeling the guilt grow in my chest until I felt like my heart was actually going to burst out of my chest. I was a terrible person.

* * *

**A/N: Hey! I think I accidentally swallowed some of those creative pills again :P Anyways, I'm already on to thinking about the next chapter so that won't be too long!**


	24. Without A Clue

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Without A Clue**

After my second restless night in a row, I wasn't in any mood to socialise the next day at school; at lease that's what I told Violette. In all honesty, I was being eaten from the inside out by guilt and I couldn't physically bring myself to interact with anyone because I felt that worthless.

Jason's call had relit something deep inside me, like a dangerous beast that had been in hibernation. Now that I had wave upon wave of guilt, hate and pain crashing onto me, I was back to my old self. I texted Violette that morning and told her that I just wanted to be alone that day and she replied saying that she would spend the day with Lysander and that she hoped I was alright. _I shouldn't be alright._

I left for school a little later than usual but I couldn't care less, that day I was the classic apathetic-Lilli. Drawing on my old ways, I drifted into my first class unnoticed and stayed silent the whole time. Other than Iris' attempt at starting a conversation with me during the third class of the day, I managed to remain completely introverted until lunch.

It was while I was hidden inside the gymnasium and listening to my iPod at the end of lunch that I felt someone staring at me. A chill went through me but I couldn't place why so, without thinking, I darted my eyes to the side and saw a male figure leaning over me. My heart started pounding faster, while my brain simultaneously worked furiously to decipher both the image I was seeing and the strange physical symptoms my body was displaying.

Although I still had no idea why I was acting so weird, like a frightened puppy, I easily made out Castiel's red hair even though he was standing above me and shrouded in shadow and glare from the sun. "What're you doing here?" He asked monotonously.

I didn't respond. I knew that if I replied then that was it, I'd get sucked back into what I was trying again to leave. Obviously Castiel wasn't happy being ignored because he stepped directly in front of me and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What's your problem, Princess?"

"Nothing." _Darn it._

Castiel bent down to my eye level and glared at me. From the new angle I could've sworn that there was some sort of hurt in his eyes, something like disappointment. Whatever it was, it didn't help the twisted ball of self-envy and remorse that was still sitting in my gut.

"Someone's time of the month then?" He sneered in an obvious attempt to get me to explode. To my chagrin, it worked.

"Does it matter?" I rasped in a whisper as I forced my eyes to not flicker away from his.

Castiel sighed and stood up again. "I don't have time for this. If you wanna talk then you can come to me," he said loudly. I didn't even flinch. His voice wasn't angry; it was upset, and directed at me. Unfortunately I didn't have any more room to feel bad for anyone else, I was still trying to keep my thoughts on Jason and the others. In the end I watched the redhead walk out of the gymnasium, with heavy-lidded eyes and my lips pursed into a thin line.

The rest of my classes for the day were long and strenuous, I'd never realised how much effort it took to look brooding and distant. Nevertheless, I made it to the end of the day and, silently, began the walk home. Although I was still trying to think about Jason, it was as if my body didn't want me to because he kept disappearing into nothingness and on the way home, he was replaced with Castiel.

It was like the whole thing was rehearsed because as soon as I registered the flicker of grey and red in my mind, the real thing appeared in front of me. "Castiel," I blurted, instantly regretting my almost friendly greeting and ducking my head down submissively.

"The hell is wrong with you today?" He growled as he put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from darting away.

"Nothing."

"You already said that," he muttered, "But you're acting really weird."

I bit my lip and looked up at him. As soon as the eye contact was established, I felt different. I didn't want to be invisible or submerged in self-hatred when I looked at him, in fact all I wanted to do was hold him. _Weak. _My inner voice shouted, strangely it sounded like Jason's voice echoing in my head. _Jason._

There it was, another pang of guilt and fear. "I'm going," I said simply, pushing my way past Castiel and fixing my gaze on the roof of my house.

"Oh no you don't."

The familiar taste of déjà vu pricked me as I was spun around and encased in two strong arms, the smell of men's aftershave heavy on my nostrils. I didn't bother fighting, I just felt weak and heavy and it annoyed me that I didn't know why.

"What's going on with you?" Castiel continued, his breath shifting the hair on top of my head and sending a calming tremor down my spine.

"Jason," I whispered in response.

"Jason?"

"My ex."

"Why are you thinking about your ex?" I didn't realise it at the time, but Castiel's arms gripped my tighter and his tone was harsher as he spoke.

"He's in jail," I murmured. That's all it took to break me and in an instant, I was overcome with rage and I divulged everything. "He's in jail, my friends are in jail. Why aren't I in jail? For fuck's sake, Castiel, it was my idea to burn that place to the ground! Why aren't I in jail!"

While I went to pull the tall boy closer to me, I felt hands on my shoulders and push me away forcefully. I stared up at Castiel in confusion, my eyes wide and scared. The look on my face made the redhead hesitate for a second, obviously taken aback by the pitiful look I was unintentionally giving him, but then he remembered what I'd said and his expression went dark again.

"Castiel?" I whispered as I took a step towards him.

"No. You seriously want me to feel sorry for you, seriously?! You have no idea what it's like to be in jail, _no idea!_" He barked. With that he whirled around and stormed off, leaving me feeling colder and colder with every step.

* * *

**A/N: Forgive me if this chapter was horrible and/or annoyed you! It was my intention to get some sort of rise out of you with this one, because that's how Lilli is feeling. I know, I'm mean ;)**


	25. Smashing Through Walls

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Smashing Through Walls**

I got home feeling angry; not sad or filled with self-remorse, but completely furious. It was disturbingly refreshing. And it was all thanks to Castiel.

By the time I'd sunk into my desk chair, the only thing that played on my mind was the redhead's reaction. I saw the scene of him seething and looking ready to punch someone when he hurried away from me, repeatedly in my mind, as if there was something I was missing. _Well that's pretty obvious._

Through my window I could see that the kitchen light was on in Castiel's kitchen, but his bedroom was empty and the more I sat staring at it, the more certain I became that I had to know what had made his behaviour change so severely. With limber movements, I slid onto the tree branch that hung directly below my window and then reached up to grab onto Castiel's windowsill, pulling myself up steadily.

I breathed an accomplished sigh when I placed my bare feet on the soft grey carpet that sprawled from Castiel's room to the landing I could see just outside his door. Feeling increasingly like myself again, I took a moment to sweep my eyes around the posters and disks taped to the whitewashed walls, even running my fingers along one of the Led Zeppelin pictures.

The whole room smelt of Castiel; teenage musk, cigarettes and earth, it was relaxing. I sighed again as I headed out of the boy's private sanctuary and down the stairs. Our houses had identical layouts but in reverse so I knew that as soon as I got off the stairs, Castiel would be able to see me. That's exactly what happened.

I padded silently down the carpeted stairs, feeling grateful that I'd taken my shoes off in my room, but when I stepped onto the tiles on the first floor I was met with the steely gaze of the tall boy. There was a moment of tense silence in which the two of us dared each other to speak first, even Demon didn't move. Eventually Castiel's impulsiveness lost him our battle of will.

"Get out," he said softly, before he turned around and poured some dog biscuits into the bowl I could see on the floor.

"Not until you tell me what made you so angry before," I replied sternly. I walked hesitantly over to the kitchen island, where I rested my hands on the marble top.

"You're a manipulating, cold, coward," he growled, slamming the box of dog biscuits on the counter and glaring at me. There was something distant in his eyes that made me feel as though we wasn't actually looking at me, so I looked to the side quickly but I didn't see anyone else, not that I was surprised.

"You don't think I know that," I snarled, still taking offence to his piercing words. "Why do you think I didn't want to talk to anyone today? I hate myself, but I don't know why I did it in the first place so I'm confused as well."

I wasn't making excuses and I wasn't lying; I was putting everything out there. My pain and self-loathing was deafening in the way my voice peaked and my eyes were wide and apprehensive, and my overpowering sense of loss and confusion was practically tangible. Castiel knew it as well as I did.

"I don't trust you."

Again, I didn't feel as if he was talking to me. I sifted through the week and a half's worth of memories I had with the guy, and only one thing came to mind; "You don't trust Debrah."

Castiel's eyes narrowed at me furiously and he stepped around the island until we were only inches apart. "What do you know about that?"

"Just that you didn't want to talk about her and that she tricked you, so you mustn't trust _her_, right?" He remained silent, but I could tell that he was hurriedly going through everything I'd said. "So what does that have to do with someone being in jail?" I continued, my voice now barely above a whisper.

I could've sworn that I saw his walls physically crumble as his eyes softened and eventually blinked and dashed away from me. "Why do you _care_?" He muttered thoughtfully.

Even though I didn't know if it was a rhetoric question or not, I answered him anyway. "I just do."

His eyes snapped back to mine, still narrowed but not as clouded. "Well Debrah didn't. She dared me to steal her mum's necklace back from her dad and stepmum's house when we thought they weren't home, and I did. They were just upstairs, though, and when I smashed the window, Debrah's dad came running down the stairs and the two of us got in a fight. When the cops came I was charged with breaking and entering, and physical assault." He was running his hands haphazardly though his hair and looking like he was going to punch the wall by the time he'd finished.

I reached out and grabbed his hands, tugging them down between our chests as I eyed him considerately. "And Debrah lied and got you thrown in jail?" I finished, phrasing it as a question even though I was sure I was right.

"Yes," he griped, "And this was after she'd already dumped me and she went on tour with her new band two days before my trial."

"Cold," I muttered in disgust.

Castiel narrowed his eyes again, leaning his face closer to mine. "I don't think she ever felt bad about it, but you do. Don't you?"

I nodded slowly and tried to stop the scalding tears I could feel beginning to rise again. "You have no idea. I don't just feel bad though, I feel…lost," I choked.

"I believe you," he said, his voice rumbling and sending vibrations through our clasped hands to prick my pale skin. We were both open and sorrowful as our lips crashed against each other again. My face burned and my lips moved slowly, fluidly, against his.

Despite our angry demeanors our kisses were slow, but probably still a lot firmer than most people's. Although I'd never say it aloud, the whole thing was somewhat romantic and it made me happy again. I knew that Castiel had forgiven me, but I still hadn't completely forgiven myself.

* * *

**A/N: Don't get too comfortable, there's more to Lilli's feelings than meets the eye. *evil laugh***


	26. Like A Moth To A Flame

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Like A Moth To A Flame**

Eventually the weekend rolled around once again but for once I wasn't amazingly excited about it. After our chat, and kiss, on Wednesday, Castiel and I had been spending our lunches together and they'd been some of the best I'd ever had. Needless to say, our two best friends were more than happy to have the extra time to hold hands and stare into each other's eyes.

While I was starting to agree with Castiel about how Violette and Lysander's behaviour was slightly disturbing, more than anything I still found it sweet. I blamed my innate feminine romantic.

Even though Castiel and I had agreed not to speak about our problems unless something actually happened, I still had Jason fluttering around in my dreams so when I woke up on Saturday I decided I had to see him. I still felt nauseatingly guilty all the time and the friendship that I had growing with Castiel wasn't helping me feel any less like a deserter.

It was only 6AM when I picked up my handbag and stepped out into the freezing morning, leaving a note on the kitchen table for my parents to find when they woke up. On the note I'd said that I had to go see Jason and that I'd be home around dinnertime, I left out the fact that I was shaking while writing it.

The more I thought about Jason, the more I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and it worried me. I couldn't pinpoint exactly why my palms would sweat, knees would go weak, tongue would stick to roof of my mouth, and stomach would tie itself in painful knots, when anything regarding my ex-boyfriend would jump into my consciousness, but I knew it wasn't good. Regardless of my physiological symptoms I still knew that I had to get a few things off my chest and visiting the State prison was the first step.

My whole body was shaking unexplainably when I stepped off the bus and walked into the receiving building of the prison, pulling my long denim jacket tighter around me to ward of the cold. Inside the building smelt like sweat, Dettol and coffee, and was overall unwelcoming.

"Can I help you, Miss?" The man behind the desk boomed, his deep Southern accent rebounding off the bare walls mercilessly.

I felt scared again, but I still didn't know _why_. "Yes," I said, clearing my throat as I approached the desk and passed my ID underneath the glass barrier between the man and myself. "My name's Lilli Dowe, I called last night about seeing Jason Arch."

The man got me to sign some visitor papers and then told me to follow another man, a prison guard, to the left side of the penitentiary. The State prison was huge and separated into four buildings; the receiving building, the juvenile's wing, the women's wing and the men's; which was on the left. It took a good five minutes to arrive at the visiting area in the men's section, but eventually I was able to lay my eyes on Jason for the first time in months.

"Angel," Jason cooed as he stood up at the table he was at, opening his arms up to me.

I walked steadily towards him, trying to disguise the discomfort pulling at every fiber in my being by hugging him tightly. "H-Hey, Jason."

We sat opposite each other while guards lined the large room, keeping a vigil eye on the various tables with inmates and visitors.

"I didn't expect to see you," Jason said, leaning closer to me and placing a hand on top of the table. I didn't reach back but he didn't seem bothered by my submissiveness. Something about the dark shadow in his eyes was really worrying me and there was a little voice in the back of my head that was telling me to run, but I ignored it because this was _Jason_.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you since you called the other night," I said with a sad smile.

"I hope that didn't bother you."

"No." _Yes._

"I'm happy to see you, but you didn't just come here to say that did you?"

I sighed, looked down at my twitching hands and forced gulps of air into my tight lungs. "N-No," I stammered before yanking my eyes back up to look into the murky green pair opposite me.

"Jason, I feel terrible about what happened. The guilt is…it's killing me. I don't know what I was supposed to do…and then, I just forgot about you. I'm sorry…" I trailed off and leant across the table. "And I can't help feeling that it was my idea…you have to know that I'm finding it harder and harder to go on each day with all this." My whisper was somber and my raspy voice cracked at the end of most of the words, but I knew he'd heard me.

"I know," Jason said as he grabbed onto both of my hands, keeping our gaze latched. "You're a terrible person." His lips pulled into a strange sort of smile and he let go of my hands just as another two pairs wound themselves around my underarms and dragged me out of my seat.

I shrieked and spun my head around in fear, trying to see who my captors were. Holding onto me tightly were two prison guards and they were looking across at Jason stoically. "Thank you, Arch," the one to my right said loudly. Jason just nodded and grinned at me again. I couldn't breathe, so I just kept starring at Jason bewilderedly as I was carried away.

"Lilli Dowe, you are under arrest for arson, conspiring against a Government owned and operated facility, and obstructing justice," the guard on my left shouted as we made our way back towards the receiving building.

I blanked out as soon as the smell of coffee and Dettol hit my senses again, but I assumed that I was being read my rights, not that that really made a difference. I was already in a holding cell by the time I realised what exactly had happened; Jason had tricked me. I'd been arrested and he was a manipulative traitor.

* * *

**A/N: So, who saw _that_ coming?! Have fun with those feels and see you next time xo**


	27. Splinters

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Splinters**

The one thing I learned from the three hours I spent alone in that holding cell was that nothing is more exhausting than experiencing endless fear. By the time my cell gate grated open, I couldn't even lift my arms to return my mum's suffocating hug.

"Lilli," she whispered in my ear as she dragged her shaking fingers through my hair.

My dad was more composed, thank God, but he still looked like a dead man walking. "Anne, I'm going to finish talking to those coppers. Look after your mum OK, Pumpkin?" He said lowly, forcing a sarcastic smirk onto his face before lumbering away.

I giggled appreciatively at my dad's joke and finally wrapped my arms around the heaving woman clasping to me. It was then that I noticed someone else had snuck into my inimical cell and I turned my head to see who it was.

"Castiel?" I rasped, suddenly feeling completely alert and embarrassed by my bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Hey, Princess," the tall boy smiled. Mum took this as her cue to slowly detach herself from me and after muttering something about needing a coffee; she shuffled into the corridor that led back to the receiving area of the State prison.

"I'd be lying if I said that I saw this coming," Castiel snickered, sitting down next to me on the accordion-style bed and giving me a half-hearted smile.

"Guess you're really not like Jason," I stated simply. Castiel sighed sadly and let me rest my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," I whispered against his jacket and wrapped my arms around his middle.

"For what?"

"You being here without someone."

I felt Castiel swallow a lump in his throat and heard an unsteady breath flutter past his lips. "I survived. And you're gonna survive this."

"How'd you know I was here?" I asked dumbly.

"Your 'rents nearly ran me over when they shot out of the driveway, so I knew something was wrong. And I asked if I could come with them." His voice was stronger than before, but his arms were still gripping onto me for dear life.

"Thanks."

He didn't respond, instead he just placed a brief kiss on top of my head and then pulled away from me. I looked up at him confusedly. "I need to talk to Jason, the cops said I could after they were done, which should be about now," he murmured.

I watched him leave, staying silent and thinking about whether I was happy that he was going to talk to Jason or scared about how much he'd hate me when he found out that I really was to blame and deserved to be locked up. Mum and Dad walking in again interrupted my thoughts, thankfully.

Dad sat down next to me and Mum leant up against the wall on my other side, sipping her coffee delicately. "I've got a lawyer coming," Dad said confidently.

"Do I want to put up a fight?"

"Are you scared, angry…hurt?"

"Yes," I said unsurely as I finally made eye contact with the grey-haired man.

"Guilty people wouldn't," he said softly.

That was all it took to reduce me to tears again. I clutched onto my dad as my head spun with mixed feelings of rage, disappointment, terror, hopelessness, and regret. He didn't let go.

It was a good hour by the time Castiel returned and the first thing I noticed was the way his face was twisted up with an emotion I couldn't recognise. Before I could ask him what had happened with Jason, he'd shared a secretive look with my dad and then the two of them walked out into the corridor again.

I looked Mum suspiciously. "Let them take care of things, Castiel knows more about this sort of thing than he lets it show," she smiled knowingly.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily, but it's definitely interesting." With a small chuckle she was kneeling in front of me and stroking my cheek like she had done when I was a kid, "He's a good boy, Pumpkin."

"I know..." I whispered.

Silence settled over us and through the walls, I could just make out snippets of Castiel and Dad's conversation.

"Complete sociopath–"

"Both of them will need assessment–"

"–There's no question about it."

"She said that she–"

"The reports will prove–"

Noticing that I was eavesdropping, Mum poked my stomach and glared at me gently. "Like I said, let them take care of this."

I nodded and pulled her into a hug, while trying not to decipher the bits and pieces that I'd just heard. It wasn't long until the two men walked in again, not looking as solemn as before.

"Pumpkin, Castiel found out some…things," Dad began, looking at Castiel gratefully before continuing, "We've talked about it, and we've told your lawyer and the cops. Now it's your turn to know, because we've cleared it and made sure that you can."

I'd never heard my dad sound so formal or politically correct before; it was weird. Nevertheless, I nodded and then fixed my eyes on Castiel.

"Jason's just like Debrah, they're sociopaths." I blinked, taken aback by how harshly and bluntly he said that but also strangely impressed.

"Well Castiel says Jason is a sociopath, but we need him to be clinically diagnosed first. Your lawyer is working on getting that done," Dad interjected.

"Thanks, Mark," Castiel chuckled. "_I think _Jason's a sociopath, because he was way too happy to taunt me as soon as the guards had their backs turned. He bragged to me about how easy it was to trick you into thinking he cared. You were always the scapegoat, Lilli. From the start he knew you were lonely and desperate for attention, so he made you feel loved and then planted the idea in your head that it'd be a good idea to burn down that building. He knew you were stubborn enough to think that the idea was your own and that when things went south, you'd take the fall. The reason they all covered up for you was to make you feel worse, worse enough that you'd take _all_ the blame and they'd _all_ get out of it."

The redhead stopped and stared at me tenderly. I wasn't thinking. I jumped up and ran at him, launching myself into his arms and burying my face against his chest. "I'm not weak," I laughed breathlessly, "But I believe you."

* * *

**A/N: Please don't shoot me if this chapter was really badly written; I really struggled with it! There's still more to come out about Lilli and Jason's past in two chapters' time, but next chapter there'll be a nicer little filler. Please tell me what you think, any feedback is appreciated ****immensely! xo**


	28. Easy Come, Easy Go

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Easy Come, Easy Go**

The next morning I felt lighter and more confident than I had done in days, despite getting practically no sleep on that hard prison bed. I had the sneaking suspicion that's what happened when you uncovered a whole lot of lies.

I was just trying to stretch out the knots in my back when the smell of freshly baked croissants wafted into my cell. "I had to bribe your parents to let me come here alone," a gravely voice snickered from behind me. I didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Castiel.

"Yeah they're like that," I giggled. Finally I felt the satisfactory click of my vertebrae grinding against each other and I straightened up again, the crack still lingering in the small cell.

Castiel looked at me in amusement. "Girls shouldn't be able to crack their backs like that, it's such a turn off," he teased, winking at me as he took out one of the croissants and waved it under my nose.

"But it feels so good," I drawled happily. Without any hesitation I grabbed the croissant with my teeth and bit into it, what I didn't expect was the gush of melted chocolate that poured out of the pastry.

"You're such a weirdo," Castiel laughed as he wiped the chocolate off my chin with his thumb, smiling deviously at the childish grin on my face. I was about to take my breakfast from him, but he waved me off and placed it right by my lips again. _He wants to feed me?_ I thought giddily.

By the time both croissants were finished, Castiel and I both had chocolate covering our fingers and mouths. And we were smiling. It was ridiculous how carefree and stereotypically young I felt, but I wasn't complaining at all.

"You've got more chocolate on your lip," I said with a smirk as I reached forward and wiped the gooey sweetness off of Castiel's top lip with my index finger. I waved my finger in his face playfully and then drew it to my mouth, sucking off the indulgent chocolate with vigor.

In all honesty I wasn't even thinking about what I was doing until Castiel's hands were on my shoulders and his lips were molding against mine. _Yeah, I probably deserved that. _I thought smugly as I wrapped my fingers up in his long red hair and returned the kiss feverishly. The taste of chocolate danced around our taste buds, literally making the kiss all that much sweeter.

Castiel's warmth completely enveloped me and made me feel like a dimwitted Hollywood schoolgirl as we continued to tug at each other's hair and lips. That's what we both needed though, the completely honest compassion that you could only get from someone who was exactly like you. _Just as malfunctioning, just as angry, just as blunt, just as content._

We probably would've kept on kissing until our lips were swollen, if it wasn't for the small gasp that came from the cell entrance. I yanked myself away from the fiery redhead and stared at the intruder.

"I-I should've seen this coming," Violette stammered, blushing furiously as she stared at the ground.

I ran at the shy girl as fast as my legs would carry me, nearly sending us both to the floor with the force that I hugged her. "I'm so sorry," I whispered against her ear.

"W-Why? You two make a great couple–"

"Not about that. About _this_," I said sadly, gesturing around us.

"It wasn't your fault," Castiel perked up, stepping over to us with a stubborn look on his face.

"Castiel's right, Lilli. I don't think you're a bad person, but Jason could as well be," Violette nodded as I continued to cling onto her.

"We're still friends then?" I blurted.

Violette nodded again while, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Castiel frown in confusion. It was amazing how he still saw me as a strong person, even after I'd cried against his shoulder more than once. I'd never live that down.

After a few minutes of hugging in silence, Violette gently pushed me away and smiled at me. "Lysander wanted me to tell you that his thoughts were with you," she said sincerely, "And Leigh asked if he could make you a special outfit for your court date."

I laughed unnecessarily loudly, tugging the purple-haired girl to me again.

"Weird," I heard Castiel chuckle.

My parents arrived not long after that, with a tall blonde lady at their side. I'd never been happier to see a lawyer before. The lady, Alice, gave me a complete rundown about how she was going to argue my case and what I had to do. According to whatever piece of legislation it was that she kept waving in front of me, I had the right to have psychological assessment as well as request it from Jason, depending on how mine went.

As it turned out, Jason had been cooperating with the guards and police ever since he and the others had been imprisoned. Over time he'd been able to convince the authorities that I was a 'psychopathic, manipulative, troubled teen' who took advantage of a protest group and turned them into vigil antis and arsonists. My blood ran cold when I heard that.

Alice organised for my assessment to start that afternoon. Much to my skepticism I was to have a good old Freudian hypnotherapy session to try and delve deep into my subconscious. Although I thought it was a bit far-fetched, I couldn't argue that hypnosis wasn't a long-standing psychological tool so I agreed to go. _Maybe I'll find out why I acted so weird around Jason all the time…It feels like there's something I've forgotten, besides him being a liar and a coward. And a sociopath._

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**A/N: Sorry this was just a little filler chapter, don't hate me :P**


	29. Blowing Away The Debris

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Blowing Away The Debris**

That afternoon was the strangest few hours of my life. As soon as I lay down on the Freudian-influenced couch that faced a large, over crowded bookshelf, I felt different somehow. My therapist's name was Dr. Small, a tall man with no body fat and even less hair. The hooked nose and large green eyes that were spaced out across his pale face were the only things that stopped his head from looking exactly like an egg.

I felt completely drained from my thirty-three hours in jail, so I didn't even bother thinking about possibly arguing with the middle-aged man when he said to lie down and close my eyes. Before my golden eyes snapped shut, I noticed the various pictures and pieces of texts about Sigmund Freud that adorned the bookshelf and it occurred to me how nice it must've been to have a passion that you could also make a living out of. At the time, I'd almost given up on my dreams to become a renowned fashion designer.

"I want you to take a few deep breaths, Lilli," Dr. Small instructed somewhere in the room. I did as I was asked, while fighting the urge to open my eyes.

"In and out, in and out," he continued.

I felt stupid.

Over the next twenty minutes I told the State appointed therapist all about what I could remember about Jason, the fire, prison, myself, my family and my new life at Sweet Amoris. As my eyes were closed, the rest of my senses were on high alert and I became very aware of my body's reactions to everything I was asked to talk about.

When Castiel popped into the conversation my muscles relaxed and my breathing became deeper, like he was some sort of sedative. I felt completely at ease, which was probably why Dr. Small asked more about Castiel than he did about anyone else, except Jason.

The very mention of Jason's name had my fists clenching, my toes curling, and my eyelids desperately trying to fling open. I felt terrified. And Dr. Small was there to write at all down.

"Lilli, what are you seeing?" His voice floated through my ears like a melody, a strange song that was begging me to divulge everything about myself, even the things I didn't know I knew.

I hadn't realised it until he brought it to my attention, but I was seeing flickers of memories behind my eyelids. "Um…Jason…and he's angry," I stammered softly. I faintly heard the sound of pen scratching against the therapist's notepad again, but I was mostly focused on the images that were becoming clearer by the second.

"H-He's really angry, but I don't know why…" I trailed off, my weak voice becoming nothing more but a whisper by the next time I spoke. "I'm scared."

"There's nothing to be afraid of, you're in the State's health science branch. In my office. On a couch." Dr. Small said calmly.

His words sounded as if they were instructions, to me, and I slowly placed my hands beside me. For a few minutes my fingers kneaded the worn leather that was out of my sight, and then I had to continue.

"What you're feeling is important, Lilli. You're frightened by Jason, this enraged image that you see, but why?"

"I don't know."

"Think."

"I don't know!" I yelled. Suddenly my whole body seized up and my memories came flooding back with the force of a tsunami, ripping away the weak little girl that had been hovering around me for days.

I felt my own rage multiplied tenfold as I watched memory-Jason yelling only inches away from my face. His face was red and contorted, and his eyes had the same dark look that he'd had when I'd been arrested. I didn't know what he was saying, only that I was screaming 'I don't know' and trying to back away from him.

Then I started begging for mercy and actually sunk down onto the floorboards of his apartment, gripping onto his hands and staring up at him as he smirked down at me with that dark look. In real-life I was feeling disgusted but in my memory I was feeling helpless, weak, and frantic, it was weird to be both in the physical world and in my own head at the same time.

Another jolt of panic swept through me and then I was seeing a different memory. This time I was sitting in Jason's car and complaining about the kids at school; their lack of intelligence, inability to think outside of themselves, and their complete obsession with everything to do with stereotypical teenage behaviour. Jason was being so kind and understanding, and I felt happy.

That was when he told me about his plans to burn down the _ForTomorrow_ Medical Progress Center that was on the outskirts of town. No sooner had memory-Lilli heard those words, I was yanked into a memory a few months later. It was a week before the fire.

I was telling the rest of our protest group about the idea but I was selling it as _my_ idea and, what was more, I believed it myself. Once again I felt like I was having some strange out-of-body experience, because for the first time I realised that it wasn't my idea, it was Jason's. _So why did I think it was mine? _The answer was in the next series of quick flashes and snippets of conversation.

Jason was hitting me, yelling at me, and telling me whatever he wanted to, and all the while I was cowering in front of him. My eyes were stinging with tears, both in real-life and in the horrific memories that didn't seem to want to end. And then it all became painfully clear; I was a victim of an abusive relationship. _I never thought something so…simple, could cause so much damage._

That must have been how I learnt to take a hit so well but it was strange because, until then, I could only remember being happy with Jason. As I found out later, that was normal in cases like mine, especially when a bump on the head was in the mix. It was the memory of me returning home one night in the middle of the previous year, with a large bruise on my head and how worried my parents had acted, that brought the remainder of my experiences with Jason out of hiding.

By the time I walked out of Dr. Small's office, the sky was dark and I was exhausted. I saw everything differently and I felt more like myself than I'd done for over a year, it was like nothing had ever happened. Unfortunately for me, just because Dr. Small and I knew the truth, it didn't mean that anyone else did, so we spent the next three hours retelling my experience to my parents. And Castiel.

The whole time I'd been enveloped in my memories I'd unknowingly been saying it all allowed, and the dedicated professional seated beside me had written it all down. I just say in between my alarmed parents as every word on that notepad was read out for the whole room to hear. It sounded even worse when Dr. Small was relaying it all back to me.

There was no doubt in any of our minds, though, that Jason was seriously ill and I had nothing in my future to worry about. As long as I got the help I needed, I'd be fine and I'd be able to stand in front of everyone at the court case in two weeks time, telling them everything I knew and watch as Jason's psychological report was inevitably read out to support my case. I felt even more confident when Castiel said that he'd be there the whole time.

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**A/N: Okay so take a deep breath and go get a cup of tea before you review :P I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the final chapter of _Trouble Always Finds Me_, which is coming up next! Is anyone else sort of sad about this ending?! xo**


	30. After The Aftermath

**Chapter Thirty: After The Aftermath**

Springtime was beginning to settle over Sweet Amoris by the time I received my letter that dismissed me of all charges regarding the _ForTomorrow _Case. It had been a long three weeks, but I was finally able to walk around my own home without any sense of fear. I was free.

The court case had only lasted four days and, by the end, the jury unanimously decided to keep Jason locked up for a good portion of his life and let the rest of us go with clean slates. That was the thing about being manipulated by a clinically diagnosed sociopath; apparently you really couldn't be at blame for anything. Never mind the fact that I hadn't actually done anything in the first place.

Alice ran my case as a perfectly oiled machine and I couldn't have been happier with her, and neither could my parents. Mum and Dad were both called as witnesses and, although I felt somewhat guilty about it, they assured me that they didn't mind. I knew that they were all too happy to help out, especially seeing as they were there for the whole proceedings anyway.

Castiel, Violette and Lysander were in the crowd the whole time as well, even when I wasn't appearing. I had the feeling that Lysander was there to support Violette more than anything, but the other two were undoubtedly there to watch Jason go down in flames. And support me, of course.

As I stood outside the house that my parents and I had decided to keep and spend the next few years in, in Sweet Amoris, reading my beloved letter, I felt completely at ease. The sun was warm against my bare arms and the spring breeze toyed with my black curls, and I could feel a pair of eyes starring at me from the house next door.

A good-natured smirk graced my lips as I looked up to see my favourite redhead. "Enjoying the view?" I taunted, tucking the letter into my shorts' pocket.

Castiel chuckled and sauntered over to me, "You know it." I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him quickly, just a little peck to tempt him.

"Tease," he snickered, kissing the top of my head and then pulling away when we heard the front door of my house swing open.

"Come on you two, the movie is going to start in ten minutes," Lysander said with a charming smile. His willowy figure stepped out onto my front lawn, his hand clasped with Violette's as she bounced along behind him.

"I can't wait to see this," the purple-haired girl babbled, still as quietly as when I first met her but undeniably more lively.

"It's historic," I complained jokingly, rolling my eyes as I watched the happy couple get seated in Lysander's grey Commodore.

"It's boring," Castiel added.

I giggled and followed the redheaded boy to his motorbike, which was parked on our shared driveway. Just as I was about to hop onto the bike and pull on the spare helmet, Castiel turned me around and pulled me into another warm hug.

"You know what else would make history?" He whispered lowly, bringing his lips close to mine.

I shook my head and bit my bottom lip in anticipation.

"If I'd let you be my girlfriend," he said with a small crack in his voice.

"Please?" I drawled teasingly, running a finger over his chest and smiling up at him knowingly.

"Fine," he sighed with a chuckle. I closed my eyes as he closed the small space between us with a kiss. A very strong kiss. Our tongues only had time to briefly start their familiar wrestle when we were interrupted by the sound of Lysander beeping his car horn at us.

Smiling brightly, the two of us separated and mounted Castiel's motorbike, speeding off behind our two friends. That was the first _official_ double date the four of us had together and when I got home that night, I finally finished the dress that was inspired by everything Castiel.

I stayed up until the early hours of the next morning putting the final touches onto my most prized piece, making sure every line and every colour was perfect. The last foot of the dress' skirt was dark grey chiffon, exposing the wearer's shins and feet. It reminded me of how Castiel and I could read each other so effortlessly and how his eyes had been misty and clouded when, on the first day I'd met him, I'd drawn him in jail. His biggest secret was the first thing I'd drawn of him, unknowingly.

It was also the thing that had unintentionally brought us together; two kids haunted by the past and terrified by the future. Now we were one of those disgustingly perfect high school couples, and we couldn't be happier.

**THE END**

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**A/N: So this was basically just a little epilogue to tie together a few strings and I hope it did an okay job at finishing up this story because this is the end!**

**I will be writing another My Candy Love fanfic, starring Iris and my own OC male while I will start next week. It'll be very different to this story, but I think it'll be just as fun to write and hopefully you'll enjoy reading it just as much.**

**I'd like to thank everyone who reads and reviews this, but I also want to give a few special shout-outs!**

**Spark Firebug, IfYouLovedMe, wolvsrule, AliceXxX, xXJuuLXx, cookiemonster222, Arisa3k1, X-Sammie-Jo-X, MommysSissyGirl, Patty967, Exactlyamanda, XxJasmineMxX, SageHope, and the few people who reviewed as guests and said beautiful things like; 'this is one of the best stories [they've] read,' that I'm 'a fankfrikkentastic writer,' and that they even read it as a bedtime story and 'get nervous when [they] can't read the continuation' (you know who you are).**

**All in all, THANK YOU! I've loved writing this and I really hope you enjoyed reading it!**

**I love you all! xo**


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